Excavators and demolition machines are working on the debris flow deposit, channeling floodwater and breaking up rocks. Near the civilian houses filled with mud and sand, fire and rescue personnel, accompanied by search dogs and guided by villagers, are carrying out search and rescue operations. In Ridi Village, Kangding City, Garzê Prefecture, Sichuan Province, on the afternoon of the 4th, emergency rescue efforts were still underway in full swing.

In the early hours of the 3rd, due to continuous rainfall combined with melting ice and snow, a massive gully flash flood and debris flow suddenly broke out in Ridi Gully, which originates from a 5,700-meter-high mountain, causing severe damage to Ridi Village at the gully mouth. As of 14:30 on the 4th, the disaster had caused 8 deaths and left 19 missing.

Photo shows the emergency rescue scene in Ridi Village on August 4.

Ridi Village is located beside National Highway 318, which has constant traffic all year round. Now, National Highway 318 has been completely cut off, with the road surface buried under several meters of earth and rock. Compared with the 3rd, the floodwater flowing through the deposit is noticeably smaller, but to reach the most severely affected core area, reporters still had to wade through calf-deep water and struggle forward among the rocks.

"This used to be a two-lane national highway with households scattered on both sides. Now the road is gone, and only the main structures of the houses can be seen." Running among the rocks, Cai Xin, deputy head of Guzha Town, was busy tallying the damage to houses. "What everyone is most worried about is the missing people."

On that day, the search and rescue work in Ridi Village was divided into two major areas and 11 grids, with a total of 414 personnel deployed, including the National Comprehensive Fire and Rescue Force, public security special police, China Energy Engineering Group, and local village and group officials. They used personnel, dogs, professional equipment, and information technology to make the utmost effort to search for and rescue the missing.

Photo shows the emergency rescue scene in Ridi Village on August 4.

The small courtyard of a two-story building had been filled level with mud and sand, with only the crown of the fig tree in the yard exposed, its fruit within reach. Mud and sand had poured into the first-floor rooms, reaching to just over a meter below the ceiling. Fire and rescue personnel entered hunched over, carefully probing and searching the bedroom area.

Yan Lü, station chief of the Special Service Station of the Meishan Detachment of the Sichuan Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps, told reporters that the debris flow covered a large area and was buried at great depth, making search and rescue very difficult. "Our manual excavation can reach a depth of at most one meter; below that are large rocks. Deep excavation can only rely on heavy machinery."

On the earth-gray debris flow deposit, the most conspicuous things are precisely the heavy machines. Because the rocks are huge, some with diameters of five or six meters, demolition machines must first break them up before clearing can proceed. A little closer, the sound of hammering is deafening.

"This rescue mission is extremely arduous. In addition to searching for and rescuing the missing, we also need to open up roads and dredge the river channel," said Li Hongjun, chairman of China Energy Engineering Group Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd. He noted that the debris flow is deeply buried and contains many boulders, and that a gas company's storage tanks are also buried underneath, which has brought difficulties to the emergency rescue.

Photo shows the emergency rescue scene in Ridi Village on August 4.

On a huge rock surrounded by mud, firefighter Duoji serves as a "lookout," holding red and green flags in each hand and wearing a whistle around his neck, safeguarding the rescue teams. Near this huge rock, fire and rescue personnel are busy excavating and relocating the gas storage tanks. After continuous rescue efforts, not far away, a section of National Highway 318 covered by relatively shallow mud and rock has been cleared, revealing the wet asphalt surface.

Those familiar with this land feel the destructive power of the debris flow especially strongly. Worker Deng Xiaofeng has long been building iron towers on the nearby mountains and only came down on the afternoon of the 4th. Seeing the familiar Ridi Village in a state of devastation, he stood stunned for a long time. "Humans are so insignificant before nature," he sighed.

At present, the local authorities have relocated 939 people in an orderly manner, resettling them by moving them into centralized resettlement sites, having them stay with relatives or friends, and other means.

When the reporters left Ridi Village, they saw in a village group downstream that had been less severely affected that several villagers had already returned home to check the damage to their houses, and some were trying to drive out cars stuck in the mud and sand.

Looking back, the reporters saw huge rocks piled up among the green valleys, and sunlight shining on the rushing Zheduo River, dazzlingly bright. As far as the eye could see, excavator arms were swinging continuously.