Five thousand residents in Danba, southwest China's Sichuan Province, who live near a possible landslide site, are starting to return home thanks to efforts to prevent the huge hill moving.

About 2,500 people in Danba County are getting back to normal as efforts to strengthen the hill - which was on the verge of sliding - are paying off.

Another 2,500 are expected to return home shortly.

The hill is about 270 meters long and 205 meters wide with a total volume of 1.5 million cubic meters. Monitoring showed the hill moved about 6 millimeters on February 2 then as much as 33 millimeters on February 22, posing a great threat to the residents below.

Provincial leaders issued an evacuation notice, said Wei Lin, an official with the county government.

About 300 soldiers and 1,500 local residents from 15 towns helped bolster the hill in February and March under the direction of experts, she said.

About 2,500 people who were temporarily evacuated are now moving back to their original living and working places, she said.

Another 2,500 are expected to return in the next few days.

Wei and her colleagues were also included in the evacuation.

The mass move involved people from 27 residential communities, schools, hospitals, shops and government offices.

Most went to stay with friends and relatives on the other side of the county.

"Six major evacuations organized by the government took place between February 4 and March 10," Wei told China Daily.

More than 1.5 million yuan (US$182,000) was allocated for daily necessities and medical support during the evacuation period.

Experts from the local land administration and the national land authority are working on ways to prevent landslides happening in the long-term.

Yin Yueping, from the China Geological Survey, said a plan has been drawn up and will be adopted soon.

Yin, who has conducted on-site investigation and research in Danba, said landslides did occur there tens of thousands of years ago.

He said more than 40 counties in Sichuan stand on flat slates, the result of huge landslides a long time ago.

Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan in southwest China and Hubei in central China have all witnessed landslides, not unusual in such a mountainous region.

Danba, home to more than 50,000 people, with 70 percent of them ethnic Tibetans, is a popular tourism destination because of its unique geological characteristics, Tibetan culture and stone carvings.

A historical site from the stone age has recently been discovered in the county and should be open to tourists for the coming seven-day May Day holiday, Wei said.

(China Daily April 20, 2005)