The 2008 Shanxi mudslide was caused by the collapse of an unlicensed mine landfill in

Xiangfen Xiangfen County () is a county in the southwest of Shanxi Province, China. It was established in February 1954 from the merger of the former Xiangling County () and Fencheng County (). The county falls under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level ...

county,

Linfen Linfen is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. It is situated along the banks of the Fen River. It has an area of and according to the 2020 Census, a population of 3,976, ...

Shanxi Province Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

which caused 277 dead, 4 missing and 33 injured. Around 8:00 a.m. on September 8, 2008, the

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

of a waste iron ore reservoir collapsed after torrential rain, causing a major mudslide which inundated a village and crowded marketplace. The unlicensed Tashan Mine was operated by the Tashan Mining Company.

History

The ore

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

was built in the 1980s, halfway up a mountain, about 50 meters above an office building, marketplace and some residences. It was built only 100 meters away from the nearest residence. The reservoir was supposedly decommissioned a few years later, but its new owner, Zhang Peiliang, put it back into use when he took over the company in 2005. In 2006, the Tashan Mining Company did not renew its safety production license, and in 2007, the mining license of Zhang also expired.

Damages and casualties

The entire village of Yunhe was inundated by the mudslide, including an outdoor

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

crowded with customers. As of September 24, the Chinese state media reported that the death toll was 267, and the number of injuries 34. Only 128 bodies, mostly of locals, have been identified. Some 268,000 cubic meters of mudslide

sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...

flooded over an area of 30.2

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

s in the disaster, and the mud was up to six meters deep in some parts. The final official count is: 277 dead, 4 missing and 33 injured. A worker had said "It's not because of the rain. It wasn't a natural disaster, it was man-made." Up to 500 people may still be buried, according to the

Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy is a human rights organization based in Hong Kong that provides information human rights abuses in mainland China for news outlets. It is run single-handedly by Frank Lu Siqing. A municipal ...

Rescue efforts

5,300

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ...

rs, using more than 110 excavators, were looking for survivors. The rescuers covered about 90% of the mudslide zone so far. In addition, 2,100 medical workers were at the site to provide medical care.

Aftermath

1,047 people are displaced because of the mudslide. The provincial level government says relatives of the dead will receive 200,000 yuan ( US$ 29,215). The

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

chief, the head of

Taosi Taosi () is an archaeological site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi, China. Taosi is considered to be part of the late phase of the Longshan culture in southern Shanxi, also known as the Taosi phase (2300 BC to 1900 BC). Archaeology Taosi was surround ...

township, work safety bureau director, and chief engineer in Xiangfen county were dismissed for neglect of duty. Thirteen mine executives, including Zhang Peiliang, were detained by Chinese authorities, and four other local officials were also dismissed. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) said that an investigation is pending, and that the people responsible will be "punished in line with the relevant laws." Wang Jun, the director of SAWS said, "It is the most grave accident that involves the largest death toll so far this year. The rising accidents disclose local governments' poor supervision on work safety. Those responsible must be dealt with seriously." Meng Xuenong,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Shanxi, resigned a day after the event, on September 14. Wang Jun was subsequently transferred to become Governor of Shanxi. In September 2010, 58 people, including 34 former government officials, were handed out sentences in relation to the collapse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanxi mudslide, 2008 2008 mining disasters 2008 industrial disasters 2008 disasters in China Mining disasters in China History of Linfen Landslides in China Landslides in 2008 September 2008 events in China Dam failures in China