Relief efforts intensified in disaster area

The death toll from the massive mudslide that struck a border port in Gyirong county, Shigatse, Xizang autonomous region, on Aug 26, rose to 31 as of 6 pm on Friday, while 531 people remained missing. A total of 987 personal items had also been recovered, according to the disaster emergency and rescue command headquarters.

The rescue access route to Gyirong Port has been opened, marking a new stage in relief efforts, the headquarters said at a news conference on Friday evening.

The command center said coordinated rescue operations would be further intensified, with particular emphasis on monitoring and early warning for secondary disasters at the port site and along the G216 highway.

Local authorities will also continue to assess risks and issue early warnings for areas upstream and downstream of the disaster site to ensure the safety of rescue operations, the headquarters said.

Since the mudslide hit Gyirong Port, an important land gateway between China and Nepal, round-the-clock rescue operations involving multiple government departments have been underway.

As of 4 pm on Wednesday, 172 experts and technicians from meteorological, natural resources, water resources and emergency management departments, along with 150 sets of equipment, had been deployed to the site, according to the headquarters.

The water resources authority, for example, sent 28 experts with 31 sets of equipment, including drones, radar water-level gauges and high-definition cameras, to conduct hydrological monitoring. The natural resources department dispatched 92 technicians with 40 sets of equipment to carry out focused surveys along two rescue access routes and in areas affected by the mudslide.

The regional government has also moved swiftly to assess geological hazards in the disaster area. As of Wednesday, a special inspection along the G216 highway, a key rescue access route, had identified 58 geological hazard sites. Seven were classified as high-risk, 39 as medium-risk and 12 as low-risk, according to the headquarters.

Local authorities have completed hazard inspections and risk assessments in three affected villages and identified two sites for temporary shelters, while providing guidance on their construction, the headquarters said.

Technology has played a key role in the rescue operation. Slope radar, high-definition video surveillance and geophone monitoring systems have been installed in areas affected by ice-avalanche debris flows to continuously detect anomalies, including ice-rock collapses and deformation of debris in the source zone.

By automatically collecting deformation and image data, the systems help address the limitations of manual inspections in the steep, canyon-locked terrain. They enable real-time monitoring of key hazard sites and help ensure the safety of rescue personnel working downstream, the command center said.

In addition, local authorities have established a regular coordination mechanism to ensure smooth information flow throughout the rescue operation.

Contact the writers at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn