Avalanche in China by Elliana Zolper
On January 16th, around 1,000 tourists remained stranded at a remote holiday village in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. What caused this? An avalanche was caused by the heavy snowfall in areas over the expansion of 10 days. This sadly wasn't the first avalanche, because this snowfall has caused a chain reaction of avalanches. This heavy snowfall snowed on large sections of the highways in the Altay mountains. This caused people trapped in their cars and helicopters to safety.
As if the work of getting survivors wasn't enough, they also had to move rocks, debris, and tree branches in the snow. The wind from the mountains is so bad that operating supply missions have been shortened. On Tuesday, a military helicopter was scheduled to drop supplies but was canceled to Hemu village where they were planning on dropping fuel and flour.
Already, the highway management authorities in Atlay have organized 31 sets of machinery and equipment, as well as 53 personnel for rescue work. Zhoa Jinsheng, the head of the highway management board, says that they have never in history had such high frequencies of avalanches. Zhao believes that all the help clearing the snow will restore access to Hemu village, but the last 2.5 miles are still affected by the avalanche.
At the end of Tuesday night, enough roads were cleared for the tourists to enable their vehicles and drive off. Overall though, 220 miles of road was blocked, and trees didn't help when clearing the roads. Two days before the big avalanche, 31 smaller avalanches were reported on Saturday. Till further notice, the area will be closed until it's safe again for tourists to enter.
As if the work of getting survivors wasn't enough, they also had to move rocks, debris, and tree branches in the snow. The wind from the mountains is so bad that operating supply missions have been shortened. On Tuesday, a military helicopter was scheduled to drop supplies but was canceled to Hemu village where they were planning on dropping fuel and flour.
Already, the highway management authorities in Atlay have organized 31 sets of machinery and equipment, as well as 53 personnel for rescue work. Zhoa Jinsheng, the head of the highway management board, says that they have never in history had such high frequencies of avalanches. Zhao believes that all the help clearing the snow will restore access to Hemu village, but the last 2.5 miles are still affected by the avalanche.
At the end of Tuesday night, enough roads were cleared for the tourists to enable their vehicles and drive off. Overall though, 220 miles of road was blocked, and trees didn't help when clearing the roads. Two days before the big avalanche, 31 smaller avalanches were reported on Saturday. Till further notice, the area will be closed until it's safe again for tourists to enter.