Gansuis aid for victims

Press, 23 April 1983, Page 9

Gansuis aid for victims

Gansu province in ; China, the newest “sister qw” of Christchurch, has alienated about $150,000 to Chinese residents who fere hit by J a disastrous lamfel de in March, according /’l< > the “Beijing Review,” a’Clunese weekly magazine. f V The provincial government had also (giveqi 65 tonnes of grain, 2(0 cu. in of timber, and 20 ftonnes of chemical fertiliser to | the stricken area where part of Sale Mountain broke afay on March 7, filing more

than 270 people. Scientists of the Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Cryopedology who surveyed the disaster area said that the landslide’s main cause was the action of underground water in an area with loess topsoil and a clay underpan. ; i The subterranean water flow between the two layers had increased in recent years, and softened the clay. That had acted as a lubricant, and reduced the fric-

tion holding the layers together. Eventually, the loess collapsed and slid along the clay. Four landslides had occurred in the Dongxiang County area in the decades before and after 1949, the scientists said.

Landslides, , had also occurred inYunnan province. Crevices were found in Sale Mountain a year ago, and the mountain was heard rumbling last month. Most residents ignored an evacuation warning because they were busy with spring ploughing, but 57 , peasant households were moved away before the landslide. . /

More than 10,000 People’s Liberation Army soldiers, public security personnel, and medical workers were directed in. the relief and rescue operation by a vicegovernor of Gansu province. The landslide destroyed three villages, 200 ha of farmland, and a small reservoir.