Rescuers carry the body of a victim after a landslide hit
Zhenxiong county, Yunnan province on Friday. REUTERS/China
Daily
A landslide in southwest China that killed 46 people was
partly caused by an earthquake that hit the region four months
ago, a geological expert says.
Unstable soil and steep slopes also contributed to Friday's
landslide in Yunnan province, the state-run news agency
Xinhua quoted Jiang Xingwu as saying.
Earthquakes struck Yiliang county in Yunnan province in
September, contributing to the instability of the terrain,
said Jiang, who heads a group of geological disaster
prevention experts that is part of Yunnan's Land and
Resources Bureau.
The victims of the landslide in Gaopo village, about 550 km
(340 miles) northeast of Kunming, comprised 27 adults and 19
children, Xinhua said.
The bodies of the final two victims were recovered on
Saturday, according to Xinhua. Earlier media reports said two
people had been taken to hospital.
More than a thousand rescue workers had worked to find
survivors, Xinhua said.
Earthquakes and landslides are common in China, and with many
buildings in towns and cities shoddily built, such disasters
can have catastrophic results.
An earthquake in Sichuan province in southwest China in 2008
killed at least 87,000 people.
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