Last updated on August 29th, 2024 at 07:09 am
Official broadcaster CCTV said it had “been initially confirmed that 18 people were buried”. By Sunday evening, 12 bodies and six injured survivors had been recovered, reported the official Xinhua news agency. One person was counted as missing before the finding of the 12th body.
Cause and Emergency Response
It was caused, according to CCTV, by flash flooding from a mountain and destroyed the guest house in an instant. Over 240 emergency personnel were dispatched to the site to aid in rescue and recovery efforts.
Devastation Documented
A video published by the state-run Beijing Youth Daily showed a swath of mud and debris cutting through a green hillside, with an uprooted tree lying in front of a three-storey building. A Xinhua aerial video showed what appeared to be the ruined bottom half of a building at the top of the trail of debris, and further down, damaged buildings at the foot of the hill.
Climate Change and Extreme Weather
China has had its fair share of extreme weather since summer with the deadly flash floods in the northern and southwest parts. At least 20 people were killed this month. In May, a section of the southern China highway collapsing after days of rain buried two buses and nine other vehicles under tons of rubble, killing 48 people. Scientists have blamed climate change for the frequency and intensity of the erratic weather. As the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China has set targets to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060. With a heavy dependence on dirty energy sources, including coal, China is the world’s biggest renewable energy producer. According to recent research, the country is building nearly twice as much solar and wind power capacity as the rest of the world combined.
