Xinhua All Media+| Continuously searching and rescuing meticulously prepared forces | Excavation | Rescue
The high temperature is sunny and hot, with heatwaves hitting people. With just a slight wave of the shovel, beads of sweat as big as beans will flow down. In Shatan Village, Changtan Town, Wanzhou District, Chongqing, rescue forces are racing against time to excavate the landslide and make every effort to search for missing persons.
"Due to the hot weather, we divided the rescue team into four groups and took turns excavating. To ensure operational safety, we adopted a method of excavating one section, supporting one section, and advancing one section, ensuring that search and rescue operations were carried out without stopping." The on-site rescue personnel told reporters.
The picture shows the disaster site in Linchang Village, Changtan Town. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wan Zhiyun
In the early morning of the 4th, a sudden extremely heavy rainstorm hit Changtan Town, bringing down the largest rainstorm in Wanzhou District since there was a complete meteorological record in 1956, triggering landslides and other secondary disasters. As of now, the geological disaster of flooding in Wanzhou has caused 17 deaths and 2 missing, and personnel search and rescue remains the current focus of rescue efforts.
The reporter saw in severely affected areas such as Shatan Village in Changtan Town that mudslides poured down from the mountaintop, severely damaging some houses, roads, and foundations. The necessary roads leading to the disaster site also experienced landslides and were blocked by falling rocks. Despite this, multiple rescue forces are overcoming difficulties and working tirelessly to search and rescue.
One resident is missing at the landslide site in Taibaixi Village. The Chongqing Professional Emergency Rescue Team has determined that personnel may be trapped in the bedroom of a collapsed house. The on-site command center adopts a method of excavation and detection, manually opening a "life passage" to the bedroom, and using radar life detectors, audio and video life detectors and other equipment to determine the situation of the trapped person.
"Due to the huge collapse area of the soil, it is impossible to determine the location of the missing personnel, and large-scale machinery cannot or dare not be used on site. We are using tools such as hoes, chainsaws, and drills to accelerate the cleaning process," said He Kui, the head of the Chongqing Professional Emergency Rescue Team.
The reporter learned that in recent days, Wanzhou District has mobilized more than 2500 rescue forces from all walks of life to carry out rescue and disaster relief work. Armed police officers and emergency rescue teams have been persistently excavating at disaster sites such as Changtan Town, striving to find missing persons in the shortest possible time.
The rescue team is carrying out rescue operations in the forest farm village. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jiaxuan
Currently, a new round of heavy rainfall is approaching. According to the Chongqing Meteorological Department, there was another round of heavy rain to rainstorm in the central and eastern regions of Chongqing from June 6 to 7, among which Wanzhou and other districts and counties were at higher risk of rainstorm disasters. According to Luo Shicai, Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Bureau of Wanzhou District, the local area has recently experienced multiple rounds of heavy rainfall, causing soil moisture saturation. The new round of heavy rainfall is prone to triggering disasters such as flash floods, mudslides, and landslides again.
In the face of potential dangers, the local authorities are organizing efforts to focus on relocating and resettling residents, and investigating secondary disaster hazards.
