About 40 homes were destroyed in Xinmo village in Maoxian county, after the side of a mountain collapsed at about 06:00 local time (22:00 GMT Friday).

Rescue teams are frantically searching for survivors trapped beneath rocks.

Pictures posted by the People’s Daily newspaper show bulldozers moving earth and large boulders as the rescue effort continues.

A couple and a baby were rescued and taken to hospital after teams of workers used ropes to move large rocks while dozens of others searched the rubble, AFP news agency reports, citing local authorities.

The landslide blocked a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) stretch of a river, Xinhua news agency reports, citing local officials.

Local police told state broadcaster CCTV the landslide had been triggered by recent heavy rains in the region and that the situation was made worse by a lack of vegetation in the area.

“There are several tonnes of rock,” police captain Chen Tiebo told the broadcaster, adding: “It’s a seismic area here.”

Roads in the county were closed on Saturday to all traffic except emergency services, the news agency said.

Landslides are a regular danger in mountainous regions of China, especially during heavy rains.

In 2008, 87,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck Wenchuan county in Sichuan province. In Maoxian county, 37 tourists were killed when their coach was buried in a landslide caused by the earthquake.

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Source: BBC

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The landslide hit Banaran village in Ponorogo district, East Java on Saturday morning, damaging up to 30 houses.

“There are conflicting reports about the number of people missing, but based on the data from the field we are searching for 17 people,” national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purno Nugroho told AFP.

The local disaster agency along with the military, police and volunteers were evacuating the area.

Indonesia is often hit by landslides. Twelve people including three children died in a landslide on the holiday island of Bali last February.

In September, almost thirty people died in devastating floods and landslides in Garut, West Java.

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Source: AFP

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