Army rescuers combat post-landslide disease

MAIZHOKUNGGAR, Tibet - The armed forces in Tibet will spare no efforts to prevent the breakout of disease after the massive landslide that struck the autonomous region last week, a senior source has vowed.

Li Suzhi, president of the General Hospital of Tibetan Military Area Command, said on Tuesday that the rescue team has carried out disinfection work and used insecticide on the site of the landslide and its adjacent residences since Monday, as epidemics are prone to break out in such cases of prolonged attempted rescues.

"Water, especially drinking water, was tested and purified, for these resources may have been contaminated by changed environments caused by landslide," said Li.

The landslide struck a workers' camp of the Jiama Copper Polymetallic Mine around 6 am on Friday, burying 83 workers and 11 pieces of machinery from Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corporation, the country's largest gold producer.

By Monday afternoon, 36 bodies had been retrieved from the debris.

The rescue team has sent more than 30 professional vehicles and pieces of equipment, and used more than one ton of disinfectant fluid over 20,000 square meters, including grounds, debris, tents, and scrap heaps.

Rescuers and local residents in the affected region have also has their entire bodies disinfected in order to prevent them carrying potential sources of disease.

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