15 CONFIRMED DEAD IN CENTRAL CHINA LANDSLIDE
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A landslide caused by flooding in central China’s Hunan province destroyed a guesthouse and killed 15 people on Sunday, state media reported.
Officials initially believed that 18 people had been buried by the landslide but rescuers have since found fifteen bodies and six injured survivors, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday night.
The landslide was caused by flash flooding on a mountain, which destroyed the guesthouse, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
More than 300 emergency personnel were sent to the scene, according to Xinhua.
A video published by the state-run Beijing Youth Daily showed a swath of mud and debris cutting through a green hillside and an uprooted tree lying in front of a three-storey building.
An aerial video on Xinhua showed what appeared to be the ruined bottom half of a building at the top of the debris trail, as well as damaged buildings at the foot of the hill.
China has suffered a summer of extreme weather, with flash floods in the north and southwest killing at least 20 people this month.
A highway in southern China collapsed in May after days of rain, killing 48 people.
Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and intense, and China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Long dependent on polluting energy sources such as coal, Beijing has pledged to bring emissions of planet-heating carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.
It is already the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, with research this month showing China is building almost twice as much solar and wind power capacity as the rest of the world combined.
AFP
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