LARGE-VOLUME LANDSLIDE BURIES HOUSES AND STUDENTS IN CHINA’S MOUNTAINOUS YILIANG COUNTY, YUNAN PROVINCE October 4, 2012 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

YUNAN PROVINCE: LOCATION OF THE DEVASTATING LANDSLIDE

LOCATION OF THE DEVASTATING LANDSLIDE

WHAT HAPPENED? The landslide, estimated to be around 160,000 cubic meters in size, occurred at 8:00 AM and affected 800 people, burying three houses and 19 people, including 16 students, at the Tiantou Primary School.

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

SEARCH AND RESCUE EFFORTS

2,000 JOINED IN THE SEARCH AND RESCUE: NO SURVIVORS

SITE OF THE LANDSLIDE TRAGEDY

NO SURVIVORS

THE IRONY OF THIS TRAGEDY

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.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS

The landslide also blocked a river nearby, forming a barrier lake 15 meters wide and seven meters deep.

TEMPORARY LAKE CREATED BY THE LANDSLIDE

The government evacuated more than 800 residents living downstream of the river to safer places and mobilized nearly 2,000 people for rescue work.

Relief materials, including tents, quilts and food, were distributed to the relocated residents.

SCHOOL SAFETY IS AN ISSUE IN CHINA

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.