China
Man saved 60 hours after landslide
By Peng Yining, Shen Gang and Hu Yinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-11 11:31
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 Rescuers save Liu Ma Shindan, 52, on Tuesday, 60 hours after he was trapped in an apartment building following the landslide in Zhouqu, Gansu province. Zhang Hongxing / Xinhua
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Death toll jumps to 702; road conditions hamper rescue work
ZHOUQU, Gansu - Rescuers saved a 52-year-old man from the ruins of an apartment building on Tuesday morning, about 60 hours after the country's deadliest landslide killed at least 702 people and leveled this county in Gansu province.
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Liu's heart rate and blood pressure were normal and there were no apparent injuries, said Du Bin, a doctor from Beijing Union Hospital who was helping with the rescue work.
Healthcare workers gave Liu first aid at the site. A military helicopter was scheduled to take him to Lanzhou, the provincial capital, for medical treatment on Tuesday afternoon.
The number of people missing from the landslide stood at 1,042, according to figures released by the provincial civil affairs department on Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the missing are believed to be trapped in the rubble of their homes that were destroyed by the landslide that hit Zhouqu early on Sunday.
The country's top leaders on Tuesday called for greater efforts to save lives, although prospects of finding survivors were getting dimmer. Chances of survival for victims can drop significantly 72 hours after a disaster, rescue analysts have said.
Authorities must carry out effective operations, take more forceful measures and make the most of every second to save those trapped, members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Political Bureau said in a statement after a meeting. President Hu Jintao presided over the meeting.
Authorities should also guard against secondary geological hazards, transport people affected to safe areas and provide them with sufficient shelter, food, drinking water and medical services, it said.
More than 7,000 strained troops - mostly armed with shovels, hoes and rope - were battling through sludge and rubble round-the-clock to find survivors.
A number of rescuers said their simple tools were inadequate to carry out excavation work and heavy machinery could not be trucked in on the submerged roads.
Fan Yongheng, a soldier from the neighboring Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said his team was escorting 16 large machines including excavators and forklifts to Zhouqu. The rescuers left their base in Ningxia at 2 am on Monday and was still on the road on Tuesday evening.
"We got stuck near Minxian county, which is about 160 km away from Zhouqu. We cannot go further because of poor road conditions," he said.
Rescuers said mass mudslides like the ones that hit Zhouqu could be more deadly than earthquakes. The last person to be rescued alive from the ruins of the 8.0 magnitude Sichuan earthquake in May 2008 was freed after being trapped for 195 hours.
But very few would last so long after a landslide, rescuers said.
"Mudslides are much more devastating than earthquakes," a rescuer in Yueyuan, a riverside village in Zhouqu in which 90 homes were leveled by the disaster, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.
"There's only a 1-percent chance that anybody could be found alive here," the rescuer said.
No one was pulled out alive during the days of rescue operations following a landslide that killed at least 74 people in Wulong county of Chongqing municipality in June last year.
Many survivors of the Zhouqu landslide who were moved by the rescuers' perseverance joined the rescue work while others offered whatever food or water they could find.
Liu Tao, a native of Zhouqu county who ran a fruit store with his mother, brought 30 tons of watermelons that remained intact in their store to the rescuers.
"It's a miracle we survived the disaster. We should do something to repay their kindness," he said.
The shopkeeper and his mother woke up and fled from their two-story house just before the landslide destroyed it on Sunday.
Elderly people and children also rushed to collect spring water from the mountains for rescuers after water supplies were cut off.
"All my family members survived the disaster, but it's sad to see the county reduced to ruins," said Yan Xiyun, 12, who hiked at least five times a day between springs and the county seat to transport pails of water.
Donations of cash and supplies also poured in since Monday, but most vehicles could not drive in on the roads submerged in sludge. Villagers and volunteers had to carry supplies at a point about 10 km from the county seat.
"Each trip takes about four hours," said Liu Xiangyue, who distributed supplies at a shelter at Zhouqu No 1 Middle School.
The instant noodles and bottled water they carried were distributed in a few minutes, Liu said.
The Gansu provincial civil affairs government said on Tuesday afternoon that a total of 4,443 tents, 5,000 sleeping bags, 2,500 foldable beds, 21,700 cotton quilts, more than 30,000 cartons of instant noodles and 30,000 cartons of bottled water had been allocated to victims.
The provincial government also said each resident would get a daily allowance of 150 yuan ($22) for 15 days, starting from Tuesday.
For three months, they will receive 10 yuan in cash and 500 grams of grain each day, the government said in a notice on Tuesday.
Families of the deceased will be also given compensation of 8,000 yuan for each death.
Those who were left homeless in the disaster will get 20,000 yuan to rebuild their homes, while those whose homes were damaged will get 4,000 yuan for repairs.
Xinhua and Wang Huazhong contributed to this story.
China Daily