A soldier is trying to rescue a victim buried under the collapsed building. Xinhua

Fresh rain on Wednesday hit Zhouqu County, in northwestern China’s Gansu Province that was devastated by landslides, adding three to the list of missing, leaving more houses damaged, and triggering further flows of mud and ruble, the official Xinhuanet reported today.

A previous report by Xinhua news agency on Wednesday said that death toll of the disaster had risen to 1,117, with 627 other missing.

The rain lasted for a whole night, and still continued as of 7:10 a.m. Thursday, Xinhua said. Transport from Lianghekou County to Zhouqu Road, which has been called “the road of life” due to its important geographical position that links the disaster area to nearby cities, has been blocked again by landslides, officials said at a press conference at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday.

The torrential rain caused a new barrier lake in Libazi Village of Zhouqu County, with its water level more than three meters above the normal.

Rush-repairs of the road and drainage efforts are going on Thursday. In two school campus, the makeshift settlement sites, Caijing reporters found many flood victims had to stay up in the campus hall with mats and blankets soaked in the rain and were in desperate need of tents and folding beds.

Human factors in the disaster

When queried about the cause of the disaster, Guan Fengjun, an official with China’s Ministry of Land and Resources told reporters in Beijing that the landslides were “natural disasters” due to extraordinary torrent of rain and the brittle geology of Zhouqu.

He added, however, that human factors could not be ruled out completely, and that experts sent to the area were looking into the possible role of human activity in damaging the landscape.

In early warning of such disasters, the government still has a long way to go. Our respondents learned that the nearby warning site did not cover the area of disaster. In fact, nearly one third of natural disasters occurred this year have not been detected and warned.

Lack of money, outdated equipments and management and low coverage of warning sites mostly contributed to the unsound warning system in such remote mountainous areas as Zhouqu, according to a local official with land protection bureau.

“Our government should provide more financial support to improve the disaster warning system,” the official said.