(CRI)
Updated: 2007-12-25 10:55

A widening crack in the hillside near Yinglong village in southwestern China's Chongqing municipality has displaced more than one hundred local residents in a precautionary measure against a landslide, the Chongqing Morning Post reported on Monday. Resident Mou Liangping first inspected the crack, located in the slope of a hill alongside a highway construction site, and immediately reported it to the village heads.

"On December 18, I heard the news from fellow villagers who work on the hill that there is a crack in the slope around two to three centimeters wide," Mou said.

Four days later, when Mou went to investigate, the crack had widened, and more cracks had emerged nearby. He estimated the big crack was almost 60 centimeters wide.

A total of 109 local residents were evacuated to neighboring villages in case of a potential landslide.

"Cracks in slime layers are common, but solid rock layers rarely rupture," Ren Qiang, a metrology engineer from Changsha Zhongnan Construction Group, the company in charge of the highway project, said.

So far, the cracks measure 220 meters long altogether, the engineer said. They are 90 meters wide, and are deep, on average.

The hill has slid one meter forward, and will continue to do so at a rate of two to three centimeters per hour, Ren estimated.

Deng Zhongcheng, the manager of the highway project, said the crew detected that the hill could not the bear the pressure when they excavated the earth on December 18.

The company has sent workers to keep a close eye on the cracks, and they will report any changes in the clefts, Deng said.