The death toll from devastating mudslides in northwest China more than doubled to 702, officials said today, as hopes faded that rescuers would find many of the 1,000 people still missing.
At least three villages were levelled by an avalanche of mud and rocks triggered by heavy rains on Saturday in a remote area of Gansu province - the latest deadly disaster as China battles its worst flooding in a decade.
A 52-year-old man was pulled alive from his toppled apartment building today, more than 50 hours after the disaster, and other rescue teams heard "very faint" signs of life in another area, the state news agency Xinhua said.
But the director of Gansu's civil affairs department, Tian Baozhong, painted a grim picture, telling reporters that the death toll had more than doubled overnight, but the number of missing had dropped only slightly to 1,042.
With more rain forecast for later in the week, the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao urged rescuers to hurry but acknowledged the task would be an arduous one.
"We must fully realise the difficulties for the search and rescue work," Mr Wen was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "You must race against the clock and spare no efforts in saving lives."
China's president Hu Jintao presided over a meeting of senior Communist Party leaders today on how to handle the crisis, Xinhua said.
More than 7,000 soldiers and rescuers were hunting around-the-clock for survivors in Zhouqu, the county seat, where homes were torn apart and streets buried in mud as deep as two metres in spots.
"My older brother is buried here. He was on the ground floor," Chen Xue, 45, told AFP, pointing at a house submerged in mud. Only the third floor poked through the sludge.
Chen said he had travelled a full day from neighbouring Sichuan province to try to find his sibling, who was doing construction work in Zhouqu.
"I will wait here until they bring him out," he said, acknowledging that his brother had likely died in the disaster, as rescue workers used shovels and picks to go through the mess, some with the help of sniffer dogs.
The landslides swept mud, houses, cars and other debris into the Bailong river running through Zhouqu, choking off the waterway and triggering flooding in the mountainous area, the government said.
The Bailong remained flooded today, with only the tops of street lamps visible above the water line, an AFP correspondent saw, as Zhouqu residents queued for food and bottled water.
The mudslides levelled an area five kilometres long and 500 metres wide, Xinhua said. Floodwaters up to three storeys high have submerged half the county, where one third of the population is Tibetan.
Roads and bridges have also been destroyed, and teams worked feverishly to repair the damage so aid supplies could get through to the tens of thousands in need.
Aerial photos published by state media showed Zhouqu essentially split in two by a massive river of mud.
In the centre of town, the pungent odour of death was overpowering. Residents wandered about, searching for their relatives. Tibetan women cried and chanted in mourning for the victims.
Relatives will be given 8,000 yuan (Dh4,400) for each family member lost, Chen Jianhua, communist party chief of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, said yesterday.
More rain was forecast for the area from tomorrow.
China's minister of land and resources, Xu Shaoshi, attributed the disaster to several factors: heavy rains; the 2008 Sichuan earthquake that destabilised the nearby mountains; and sustained drought and soil erosion.
The government had said more than 2,100 people were dead or missing nationwide in flood-related disasters before the Gansu mudslides. More than 12 million others have been evacuated from their homes.
* AFP
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
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Captain Marvel
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn
4/5 stars
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
Company%20Profile
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Essentials
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours.
The package
Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017