21 missing as floods trigger landslide
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 11, 2013
2 people have died and 21 others are missing after a rainstorm-triggered landslide in southwest China's Sichuan Province yesterday, local authorities said.
![A rainstorm-triggered landslide buried many homes in Dujiangyan city, southwest China's Sichuan province Wednesday, July 10th, 2013. [Photo/sina.com]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20130711/7427ea210acc1348499323.jpg "A rainstorm-triggered landslide buried many homes in Dujiangyan city, southwest China's Sichuan province Wednesday, July 10th, 2013. [Photo/sina.com]") |
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A rainstorm-triggered landslide buried many homes in Dujiangyan city, southwest China's Sichuan province Wednesday, July 10th, 2013. [Photo/sina.com] |
The landslide happened at around 10:30am in the village of Sanxi in the city of Dujiangyan, flattening 11 homes. Rainstorms have been battering the city since Monday evening.
The victims were identified as a tourist and a local villager.
The landslide affected an area of 2 kilometers long, with about 1.5 million cubic meters of mud, rock and debris, said Qiao Jianping, a researcher with the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment.
As of 6:30pm, 340 tourists in the village had been moved to safe areas and nearby villagers had also been relocated, local officials said.
Rescue efforts for the missing are under way.
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people were rescued from a tunnel on a section of the Duwen Highway which connects Dujiangyan and Wenhuan County.
It was several hours before contact could be established with those trapped in the No. 1 Taoguan Tunnel but by 9pm everyone had been rescued. The area was the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake that left 90,000 dead or missing.
In nearby Beichuan County, flooding destroyed buildings and wrecked exhibits at a memorial for the earthquake.
It left the Beichuan County seat uninhabitable and the town was abandoned, its 27 square kilometers of ruins turned into a memorial and museum.
Meanwhile, 247 residents who were stranded in the village of Zhangjiaping because of floods have been relocated.
Since Sunday, flooding in Sichuan has affected 360,000 people, damaging or destroying 300 homes and forcing at least 6,100 emergency evacuations.
To the northeast, at least 12 workers were killed in Jinzhong in Shanxi Province on Tuesday night when a rainstorm caused a workshop to collapse.
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