Four killed 23 missing in landslides in China

At least four persons were killed in a landslide that hit a village in east China's Zhejiang Provinceas Typhoon Megi wrecked havoc forcing relocation of over 3.15 lakh people.

Four persons were killed and 15 people have been rescued and 23 others remain missing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Bodies of a 60-year-old woman and a 6-year-old child were retrieved from debris yesterday, after Typhoon Megi brought landslides to Sucun Village, Suichang County on Wednesday.

Another landslide hit Baofeng where six people are missing. It destroyed several homes by a landslide. Rescue work is under way, the report said.

Affected by the typhoon, nearly 315,000 residents were temporarily relocated in Zhejiang Province.
 

The two landslides were part of the havoc caused by Megi which caused huge economic losses to the province.

Megi, the 17th typhoon this year, forced the evacuation of 236,000 people in the province and destroyed 333 houses, leading to a direct economic loss of 2.68 billion yuan (USD 402 million), according to the provincial department of civil affairs.

"Roughly 400,000 cubic meters of debris slid down the mountains and buried 20 houses. Seventeen other homes were flooded. A township official who went to help villagers is among the missing," county official Zhou Ruichen said about the landslide Sucun village.

Many houses in the village were swept away and destroyed, and more than 1,400 residents have been relocated to safer areas.

The local government has mobilised more than 2,200 people, 180 excavators and other machines, and other emergency equipment for the rescue.

Volunteer rescuer Du Jin said a barrier lake caused by a secondary landslide had hampered their rescue efforts.

"We have to evacuate until the hazard is given the all clear," he said.

According to Du, their team has found three people buried in the debris of a razed house with life detectors. Smaller landslides are also likely.

A temporary camp was set up in a nearby village, where 118 people are now staying.

"Many of them do not know how to use phones. We have helped them, one by one, to get in contact with their children," said Ying Shuping, who has been helping to install telecom equipment in the temporary shelters.