[DIPECHO Network] FW: satellite images of blockages of rivers by landslides in China-earthquake

Wed May 21 01:34:18 CDT 2008

Dear all,

Following the email from Ripendra Awal in relation to the satellite images
of landslides due to earthquake in China (please see the email below), Mr.
Ripendra has also translated the content of the Chinese webpage to English.

*********************************************
Under remote sensing phantom Wenchuan big earthquake 2008-05-18 origins:
Chinese land survey plan courtyard, land resources department land
utilization key laboratory author:

Occurred in May 12, 2008 under the big earthquake's influence, the Beichuan
area terrain landform has had very sweeping change, the mountain massif
landslide, the mud-rock flow, the rivers jamming ...... The yellow boxes in
the images are the places that had changed. The data is from the
multi-spectrum satellite image on 14th May 2006 and 14th May 2008,
respectively.

**********************************************

Dear all,
Please have a look following link:
http://www.mlr.gov.cn/zt/kzjz/bmdt/200805/t20080518_103573.html 

With best regards,
Ripendra Awal

2008/5/19 List Moderator [ICIMOD-DIPECHO Network]
<list-moderator at disasterpreparedness.icimod.org>:

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    Dear all,

    Forwarding a news item from China, where thousands of people are fleeing
    earthquake area over flood fear when two rivers are blocked by
landslides.
    Also, compounding the horror for survivors, a lake rising behind the
wall of
    debris threatens to break its banks and send torrents cascading into
    villages downstream.

    Please find below the news in detail.

    With best regards,
    List moderator

    Thousands flee China quake area over flood fears
    Source:
    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBr_dOzJ9Pnc_U9gSgtTgE-cR-KwD90NREQ00

    By TINI TRAN –

    DONGHEKOU, China (AP) — Two rivers blocked by landslides threatened to
flood
    towns shattered by China's massive earthquake, sending thousands of
    survivors fleeing Saturday in a region still staggering from the
country's
    worst disaster in 30 years.

    A mountain sheared off by the mighty tremor cut the Qingzhu river and
    swallowed the riverside village of Donghekou whole, entombing an unknown
    number of people inside a huge mound of brown earth.

    Compounding the horror for survivors, a lake rising behind the wall of
    debris threatens to break its banks and send torrents cascading into
    villages downstream.

    Pannicky residents streamed out of the entire county on the northern
edge of
    the quake zone, spurred on by mobile phone text messages sent en masse
by
    local government officials warning that the water level was rising and
    people downstream were being evacuated.

    In the town of Beichuan, 60 miles to the south, thousands fled as the
    reports circulated.

    Also on Sunday, a "slightly bruised" man was pulled out alive from a
    collapsed hospital in Beichuan after being trapped for 139 hours after
the
    quake, a state news agency reported.

    The official Xinhua News Agency said Tang Xiong was pulled to safety
from
    the collapsed hospital in Beichuan in the northern part of Sichuan
province.

    It said Tang "was only slightly bruised and in his right senses" when he
was
    found.

    Xinhua also said a second man was rescued from a different building in
    Beichuan about eight hours before Tang. It said the survivor, Wu
Jianping,
    had been taken to hospital. His condition was not known.

    Rescue work had been resumed later in the day and experts were
monitoring
    the river above Beichuan, the People's Daily newspaper said on its web
site.
    The swift exodus underscored the jitters running through the disaster
zone.
    A strong aftershock — the second in two days and measured by the U.S.
    Geological Survey at magnitude 5.7 — shook the area early Sunday for 45
    seconds, causing people to run into the streets.

    In all the devastation wrought by the quake, little looks as bleak as
    Donghekou.

    The road to the village ends in a tangled twist of metal and tar. In the
    small valley below, the village itself has disappeared when the mountain
    collapsed. Locals said two other villages further upstream, Ciban and
    Kangle, had suffered the same fate. The three villages were home to
about
    300 families, locals said.

    Eerie and still, the remaining landscape has few signs of human life — a
    soiled green floral scarf, a rubber pipe, a log.

    "Oh God! I have lost everything," said Wen Xiaoying, 32, whose voice
shook
    as she surveyed the valley below for the first time since returning from
    far-off Guangdong province where she worked.

    She held up one hand as she ticked off the family members that died —
her
    father, her mother, her sister and her brother-in-law — all of them
buried
    somewhere in the muck before her.

    "When I saw them the last time, we celebrated together," said Wen, a
glimmer
    of a smile showing through as she remembered happier days. "I didn't
expect
    it would be the last time I saw them."

    Su Ciyao trudged over the bend in plastic slippers, carrying a plastic
rice
    bag stuffed with salvaged clothes.

    "My village is over there," the 44-year-old said, gesturing to the
swollen
    earth behind him. Asked where his family was, he could only shake his
head.

    "Only me," he said, and then set off without a backward glance.

    Drizzling rain in the valley added to the gloom, and to the fear of
carloads
    of people who clogged the twisting mountain roads as they streamed out
of
    the region.

    The government's daily update added another few thousand bodies to the
death
    toll as it continued climbing toward an expected final tally of at least
    50,000. Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said 28,881 deaths have been
confirmed
    so far.

    The official Xinhua News Agency, citing regional officials, said more
than
    10,600 people were known to be still buried almost one week after the
7.9
    magnitude quake hit, shattering thousands of buildings in dozens of
towns
    and cities in Sichuan province.

    A group of about 15 people surrounded an Associated Press reporter at a
    gasoline station in Miangyang city Sunday, appealing for help for their
    village, Xiushui.

    "The government is doing nothing to help us," said one man who
identified
    himself only by his surname, Chen. "If I gave you my complete name the
    government would track me down."

    He said Xiushui was about 12 miles from Mianyang, which is north of
Chengdu.
    Chen did not say how many people lived there, handing over a note which
said
    it had been signed "by the people of Xiushui."

    "Please go to our village of Xiushui to cover the situation. The
government
    is doing nothing to help us get water or housing," the note said.

    More than 200 rescuers from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore are
    searching alongside Chinese soldiers.

    More international aid was arriving, with a U.S. Air Force cargo plane
    loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing Sunday in the
Sichuan
    provincial capital of Chengdu.

    "We are extending the helping hand of a friend to you in the aftermath
of
    this terrible earthquake," U.S. Gen. Charles Hooper said.

    The number of security forces helping victims rose to almost 150,000,
and
    the government added cash payments to victims to its response.

    The government would give $715 in compensation to each family that lost
a
    member in the earthquake, China National Radio reported Saturday on its
web
    site. At a State Council meeting hosted by Premier Wen Jiabao in
Beijing,
    the government also decided it would also hand out a daily ration of
food
    and $1.40 to survivors, the report said.

    Almost a week after the quake struck, rescues were still occurring.

    Rescuers pulled at least seven more survivors from collapsed buildings,
the
    last a man saved after 128 hours. Both of his legs had to be amputated.
    Another, 20-year-old highway worker Jiang Yuhang was pulled free shortly
    after his mother arrived from a neighboring province.

    "I was expecting to see my son's body. I never expected to see him
alive,"
    his mother, Long Jinyu, said on state television.

    Experts say buried earthquake survivors can last a week or more,
depending
    on factors including the temperature and whether they have water to
drink,
    but that the chances of survival diminish rapidly after the first 24
hours.

    Nearly a week after the quake, soldiers who first arrived with little
but
    shovels were better supplied. In the town of Yinghua, rescuers worked
    through the day, using saws, drills, torches and hands, to free
31-year-old
    Bian Gengfeng from the wreckage of a six-story chemical factory.

    A man rescued from the same site Friday told rescuers that he had been
    talking with a woman still trapped, setting off Saturday's effort.

    "Uncle called me yesterday and said 'mom was alive' and I should come
and
    wait here," said 10-year-old Luo Ting, who watched her mother being
rescued.

    Xinhua said Russian rescuers had found a 61-year-old woman alive late
    Saturday after being buried for 127 hours, the first survivor found by
    foreign workers.

    "I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international
    friends that have contributed to our quake relief work," Chinese
President
    Hu Jintao was quoted as saying by Xinhua Sunday.

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