Shenzhen landslide caused by mountain of garbage

A massive "landslide" that occurred on Sunday at a site near Shenzhen industrial complex in Guangdong Province, the origin of China’s reform and opening, is found to have been a man-made disaster rather than natural disaster. The number of people who are unaccounted for has increased to 91.

A 140-second video footage shot by a netizen at the site vividly presents the situation in which mushroom-shaped dust storm blankets surrounding skies amid banging sound, and a four-story building displays cracks before collapsing in a matter of three seconds. “Our factory has completely disappeared. It is gone,” a worker hurriedly shouted out.

Another landslide that occurred at the Hengtaiyu Industrial Park in Guangming New District at around 11:40 a.m. on Sunday has left 91 people missing and 33 buildings collapsed, including 14 factory buildings and two office buildings. A section of the arterial West-East Gas Pipeline transporting gas was also destroyed before exploding. The size of areas that have been covered with mudslides measured more than 60,000 sq. meters, and the average depth of landslides exceeds 6 meters, raising concern over more causalities.

The accident is found to have happened because construction waste from destroyed buildings and mud was piled up illegally for more than two years between hillsides that used to be a stone pit, before the piles lost balance and collapsed.

bonhong@donga.com