Fifteen people have been rescued from a landslide caused by Typhoon Megi in China's eastern Zhejiang province. Another 32 people are still unaccounted for.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/STR
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Dozens of houses were swamped in the village of Sucun as heavy rains caused the landslide in Zhejiang province, which lies south of Shanghai, state media reported on Thursday.
A mass of water and debris rolled down a lush mountain toward the small village on Wednesday afternoon, according to images posted on social media.
Other pictures showed survivors being carried out on the backs of some of the 400 rescuers in attendance, while others dug through rubble to locate other residents.
Fifteen people were pulled out alive, while at least 32 people are still unaccounted for there and in another village, Baofeng.
The city of Fuzhou was flooded when Typhoon Megi hitImage: Picture-Alliance/AP/Chinatopix
Floods and mudslides
Earlier on Wednesday, China shut schools and cancelled hundreds of flights as Typhoon Megi made landfall in the southern province of Fujian and neighboring Zhejiang, with winds of close to 120 km per hour (75 mph), the state news agency Xinhua said.
One person was killed in Fujian, and more than 120,000 people who work close to shore or at sea have been moved, Xinhua reported.
Television images showed people wading knee-deep through the streets of Fujian's capital Fuzhou and emergency workers using inflatable rafts to rescue others who had been stranded by the high waters.
Mountainous Zhejiang, and neighboring provinces, are frequently hit by typhoons at this time of year and are also highly susceptible to landslides.
China has experienced several deadly disasters in 2015; four of them, which killed more than 600, were at least partly man-made - caused either by human errors or government mismanagement.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
New Year's Eve tragedy
On New Year's Eve 2014, a stampede broke out during a celebration on Shanghai's popular Bund harbor front, killing 36 people. Witnesses said the stampede began as some people tried to climb onto a platform overlooking the river, while others were trying to get down, creating panic and confusion.
Image: Reuters
Response criticized, along with local officials
The authorities admitted responsibility for the tragedy, noting the lack of preventive preparations, site management and improper response to the stampede. Some Huangpu District officials were punished afterwards; they were dining in an expensive restaurant when the accident took place. The photo shows impatient relatives of those injured trying to get into the emergency department in a hospital.
Image: Reuters
Capsize of "Oriental Star"
The cruise ship "Oriental Star" capsized in Yangtze River in the evening on 1 June, killing 442 of the 454 people on board. The sinking was China's worst shipping disaster since 1949.
Image: Reuters/Aly Song
Ship's seaworthiness questioned in aftermath
Rescue efforts were difficult, not just because of current, winds and waves, but also owing to the large numbers of elderly passengers and pensioners on board. Passengers' relatives raised questions about why the captain, who was among the 12 survivors, went ahead with the voyage in heavy rain and a thunderstorm. A government report also cited the ship for safety issues two years ago.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images
Tianjin warehouse explosions
A series of massive explosions in the port city of Tianjin in August killed at least 170 people and injured hundreds of others. Firefighters accounted for half of the casualties. The largest explosion's force was equivalent to roughly 21 tons of TNT, according to state media Xinhua.
Image: Reuters
Sodium cyanide storage site
The explosions occurred in a warehouse that handled large amount of hazardous chemicals. Safety standards at the warehouse were later questioned. The government was blamed for lax control of chemical facilities and poor management of chemical industrial parks. Some water samples from the quarantine zone around the blast site showed sodium cyanide levels far above the safe limits.
Image: Reuters/Stringer
Shenzhen landslide
A mountain of construction waste soil swept through an industrial park in Shenzhen on December 20, burying and damaging at least 33 buildings. At the time of publication, 76 people were still listed as officially missing. Rescue teams were still searching the rubble, even finding two survivors 72 hours after the landslide.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Color China Photo
Dumping site to blame?
Citing local residents, state media Xinhua said the debris and excavated soil had been piled up on an old quarry site for years. Heavy rains turned added weight and viscosity to the construction waste, triggering the landslide.
