"The police are working with the urban construction authority to find the missing," said Zheng Jun, a reporter with the county television station.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by the lack of access to those believed to be most affected. The Yangjiaping Village, which sits at the highest altitude of all the county's villages, is believed to have borne the brunt of the damage, but has been isolated with all roads leading to the village blocked by heavy mud and rock.

There were more than 700 people in the village when the mudslide occurred, said Zheng.

Zheng cited the county government's preliminary estimation that as many as 2,000 of the county's total population of 50,000, including both permanent and temporary residents, have been affected by the geological disaster.

The mudslide was triggered by two days of heavy rainfall across the county, which cut off electricity supplies, suspended transport lines, damaged sewage pipelines and turned residential districts into marshes.

The county started returning to normal Wednesday afternoon with mud and rock debris cleared from main streets.

"People are back on the streets. The transport network has resumed business as usual," said Zheng.

But the work to clear up the countryside is expected to take more time.

The Ministry of Land and Resources will dispatch officials to Badong Thursday to check the situation there and help local people prevent more such disasters.

This is the second time that the county has been hit by a severe landslide. The first time was during the 1980s, when the county was still at its original location.

The original site of the county, or Old Badong, had been completely deserted by the end of March, two months before it is scheduled to be submerged under the rising waters of the Three Gorges reservoir on June 1.

Zheng said the landslide in the 1980s caused more damage to housing. "Old Badong is much smaller than where we live now, and the houses were more crowded. When the landslide occurred, the damage was heavy," said Zheng.

(China Daily April 3, 2003)