» 08/18/2010 09:14 CHINA Yunnan, another mudslide leaves 67 missing Roads, bridges, power stations, telephone communications destroyed. The water level of the river Nujiang up by 6 meters. High death toll for this rainy season, almost 4,000 dead, 12 million displaced persons over 14 billion Euros in damages.
Kunming (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least 67 people are missing and seven injured after an overnight mudslide swept through the village of Litoudi, a small town in Yunnan province (southwest China), 10 km from Puladi.
The authorities report that roads, telephones and electricity lines are down and that the mass of mud destroyed a bridge over the river Nujiang, by raising the water level by 6 meters. Rescue teams were sent to the area last night, located on a mountainous border with Myanmar.
The mud slide was caused by torrential rains that have been hitting the region in recent weeks. On 26 July, at Puladi, another mud slide killed 11 people working at a hydroelectric dam.
This year in China, the rainy season has brought with it huge floods and disasters. The most serious is the mud slide that occurred at Zhouqu (Gansu) last August 8, 1254 where people have died and there are still 490 missing. Two days ago in Wenchuan, the epicenter of the earthquake in ichuan in 2008, 15 people died in a landslide of mud. Dozens more are missing and 50 000 residents had to be evacuated from the area.
According to official figures, over 2100 people have been killed due to floods and landslides, not counting those of Zhouqu and there are 12 million displaced people in Gansu, Sichuan, Hubei, Anhui, Shaanxi. The bad weather has caused damage amounting to over 14 billion euros.
