21 May 2015

Guiyang, China: a landslide demolishes an apartment block, 16 people killed or missing

Posted by Dave Petley

A landslide in Guiyang, China

A landslide yesterday morning in the Yunyan District of Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou demolished completely an apartment building that was home to 114 people.  Of these people, eight bodies have been recovered whilst eight remain missing.  The authorities report that their mobile phone signals have been traced to the rubble.

It is clear that the building collapse at Guiyang was triggered by a landslide, caused by heavy rainfall.  Some of the images show the collapsed block with the landslide behind.  Both of these images are from Xinhua:

 

 

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Judging by the images it appears that the building was connected to another, which fortunately did not collapse.

Such events are rare, but not unknown.  The two best known examples are: