2010 Gansu mudslide

Cause

Zhugqu County was the worst hit location, where mud submerged houses and tore multi-story blocks of flats to pieces. The seat of Zhouqu County was densely populated, with 50,000 people (42,000 of them are permanent population) in an area of 2 km2. After the heavy rain, there was a buildup of water behind a dam of debris blocking a small river to the north of the city of Zhugqu; when the dam broke, around 1,800,000 m3 of mud and rocks swept through the town, in a surge reported as up to five stories high, covering more than 300 low-rise homes and burying at least one village entirely. The mudslide left an area 5 km long by 300 metres wide in average leveled by mud with average thickness of 5 meters.

According to Gyurme Dorje's Tibet Handbook, the forest region of Zhugqu has, since the 1950s, "shrunk by 30% and the reserve of timber reduced by 25% due to overfelling. The sand in the river water has increased by 60%, and the water volume has reduced by 8%, resulting in increased flooding and drought." Furthermore, in this county there were between 47 and 53 hydroelectric construction projects in recent years, with 41 completed and 12 approaching deadline, according to government data. These together have caused 749,000 tons of water and soil erosion and over 3,000,000 cubic meters of bulldozed material. In 2006, a Lanzhou University report concluded that these projects have made the whole area a volatile danger-zone. The Christian Science Monitor reported that two science researchers had predicted the mudslides in 1997.

The People's Daily has argued that the mudslide was due to a "perfect storm" of natural events, including "soft" "weathered" rock, heavy rainfall, drought, and the Sichuan earthquake two years before. Authorities dismissed claims that the mudslides were "man-made".

Relief

The Gansu province had received 120,000,000 Chinese yuan (US$17,000,700 ) by 13 August. Hong Kong and Macau both donated millions of dollars to Gansu, with Macau donating more than US$7 million, and the United States donated $50,000 to Zhugqu County. Gyaincain Norbu, China's 11th Panchen Lama choice, donated ¥50,000 to relief efforts and prayed for the victims.

Reaction

On 15 August, a day of mourning was observed, with flags lowered to half-mast at government buildings within China and at embassies in foreign countries. Additionally, all public and online entertainment was suspended, and major newspapers and internet sites were grayscaled. At the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, all activities were canceled. Such events are rare in China; only after an earlier earthquake in 2010 and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in recent years have such periods of mourning been observed.

References

References

1. Deng, Shasha. (2 September 2010). "Death toll from NW China mudslides rises to 1,471; 294 still missing". Xinhua.
2. (9 August 2010). "At least 127 dead, 1,300 missing in northwest China mudslides". Xinhua News Agency.
3. (9 August 2010). "1,100 Missing in China As Asian Flood Misery Rises". [[NPR]].
4. Wang, Guanqun. (21 August 2010). "Death toll from NW China mudslides rises to 1,434". Xinhua.
5. (20 August 2010). "Mudslide death toll in northwestern China rises to 1,407". Cable News Network.
6. (19 August 2010). "Life in mudslide-hit town goes on". Xinhua News Agency.
7. (14 August 2010). "China declares day of mourning for flood victims". [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].
8. Wang, Peng. (14 August 2010). "Death toll from China mudslide rises to 1,156; 588 still missing". Xinhua.
9. (11 August 2010). "Death toll climbs to 1,117 in China mudslides". CNN.
10. Xing, Guangli. (22 August 2010). "Death toll from NW China mudslides rises to 1,435 as authorities ban further searching for the dead". Xinhua.
11. Ren, Diandong. (2014-04-16). "The devastating Zhouqu storm-triggered debris flow of August 2010: Likely causes and possible trends in a future warming climate: future Peri-Himalayan extreme precip.". Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
12. link
13. (8 August 2010). "Mudslide disaster strikes Tibetan region of China". [[Euronews]].
14. [http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=18fd7d017875a210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=China&s=News Litany of warnings preceded mudslides], SCMP, 10 August 2010
15. link
16. "Zhouqu, China Mudslide".
17. Dorje, Gyurme. (2004). "Tibet Handbook". Footprint Travel Guides.
18. Ford, Peter. (12 August 2010). "China mudslides were predicted 13 years ago". The Christian Science Monitor.
19. Foyle, Robert. (11 August 2010). "Gansu landslide: Another manmade disaster?". Shanghaiist.
20. Zhang, CriEnglish.com. (13 August 2010). "Landslide Not "Man-Made": Authorities". Crienglish.com.
21. Society, China. (12 August 2010). "Hong Kong, Macao donate to mainland disaster areas". People's Daily Online.
22. Mo, Hong'e. (12 August 2010). "Macao donates over $7 mln for Gansu mudslide relief". Xinhua.
23. Society, China. (13 August 2010). "HK proposes 50 mln HKD for mudslide victims in Gansu province". People's Daily Online.
24. Xinhua, English.news.cn. (11 August 2010). "U.S. donates $50,000 to mudslide-flattened NW China county". Xinhuanet.
25. (15 August 2010). "Panchen Lama prays for mudslide victims". [[China Daily]].
26. (16 August 2010). "China mourns mudslide victims as relief operation continues". Xinhua.