Victims of fatal landslide mourned in SW China
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E-mail Xinhua, July 18, 2013
A memorial service was held on Wednesday for 161 people who died or went missing in a landslide that hit a village in southwest China's Sichuan Province during the previous week.
About 500 police, doctors, officials, residents and volunteers attended the service at the Dujiangyan No. 1 Middle School Wednesday morning, the seventh day after the disaster.
According to Chinese tradition, the seventh day after one's death is an occasion for the deceased's relatives to mourn the passing of their loved one.
A rainstorm-triggered landslide buried 11 homes in the village of Sanxi in the city of Dujiangyan last Wednesday, leaving 44 people dead and 117 others missing. Many of the houses also served as inns for tourists who came to enjoy rural landscape.
Sichuan, which saw unprecedented downpours last week, has been on high alert for geological disasters due to the recent rain. Two devastating earthquakes that occurred in 2008 and 2013, respectively, have also raised the risk of natural disasters in the province.
There are 41,400 areas in Sichuan that are at risk for geological disasters, the most of any provincial-level region in China, according to the provincial land and resources department.
Some scenic areas in Sichuan have been ordered to temporarily close doors ahead of a new round of rainstorms. The provincial meteorological station issued a rainstorm warning on Wednesday afternoon and forecast downpours would sweep 14 cities from Wednesday night to Thursday night.
The Mount Leshan-Mount Emei scenic area will be closed until Friday due to the forecast for heavy rain.
The Sichuan provincial flood prevention authorities have asked scenic spots and rural home inns in disaster-prone areas to temporarily suspend business during the new round of rainy weather.
In Sichuan alone, a total of 58 people died and 175 others went missing due to rainstorm-triggered floods and a landslide last week.
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