LARGE-VOLUME LANDSLIDE BURIES HOUSES AND STUDENTS IN CHINA

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LARGE-VOLUME LANDSLIDE BURIES HOUSES AND STUDENTS
IN CHINAS MOUNTAINOUS YILIANG COUNTY, YUNAN
PROVINCEOctober 4, 2012
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster
Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA
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YUNAN PROVINCE LOCATION OF THE DEVASTATING
LANDSLIDE
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LOCATION OF THE DEVASTATING LANDSLIDE
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WHAT HAPPENED?

• The landslide, estimated to be around 160,000
  cubic meters in size, occurred at 800 AM and
  affected 800 people, burying three houses and 19
  people, including 16 students, at the Tiantou
  Primary School.

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WHY?

• Rain had drenched the mountainous region where
  the landslide occurred for days, usually always
  increasing the susceptibility for landslides.

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SEARCH AND RESCUE EFFORTS
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2,000 JOINED IN THE SEARCH AND RESCUE NO
SURVIVORS
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SITE OF THE LANDSLIDE TRAGEDY
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NO SURVIVORS
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NO SURVIVORS
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THE IRONY OF THIS TRAGEDY
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ELEMENTS OF THIS TRAGEDY

• The students would not normally have been in
  school this week as China is on a week-long
  national holiday.
• But students at the Youfang Primary School were
  in school to make up for the classes they lost as
  a result of the September 7 earthquakes in the
  region.

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IMMEDIATE IMPACTS
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The landslide also blocked a river nearby,
forming a barrier lake 15 meters wide and seven
meters deep.
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TEMPORARY LAKE CREATED BY THE LANDSLIDE
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The government evacuated more than 800 residents
living downstream of the river to safer places
and mobilized nearly 2,000 people for rescue work.
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Relief materials, including tents, quilts and
food, were distributed to the relocated residents.
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SCHOOL SAFETY IS AN ISSUE IN CHINA
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The safety of school pupils was already a
sensitive issue in China because so many died
when schools collapsed in the May 2008 Sischuan
earthquake.