Plans are under way to move a village that was devastated on Friday by a landslide in Yunnan province, officials said on Sunday.

The plans went into effect on Saturday afternoon, just after rescue efforts came to a close, said Chen Xiangjin, deputy head of Zhenxiong county.

"We will move the 629 people in the village of Gaopo, 2 kilometers from where the landslide happened," he said.

Chen said the new village will take about six months to build and will be paid for with funds from the central government.

He said the villagers will live in prefabricated houses until the new village is completed.

More than 500 villagers have been moved to makeshift tents out of a fear that a subsequent disaster could damage their homes. Others have gone to stay with relatives and friends.

Chen said those displaced by the landslide will receive a daily subsidy of 12.5 yuan ($2) for the next three months.

Portable houses will be built to replace the makeshift tents and provide shelter until the village is moved within half a year, Chen said.

The landslide killed 46 people, 19 of them children, in the mountainous region on Friday. It is believed to have been caused by persistent rain and snow.

Another possible contributor was the earthquakes that struck Yiliang county, a neighboring county, in September, said Jiang Xingwu, head of a group of geological disaster prevention experts under the provincial land and resources bureau.

Families mourn

Wang Faxian collapsed and burst into tears when the last of her 14 family members' bodies was retrieved from the muddy debris.

Although she knew the odds of survival were slim for those trapped by the landslide, she held out hope that her worst nightmare wouldn't come true.

"I realized that something very big had happened when I heard a loud 'bang'," Wang recalled amid sobs. "But I never thought I would lose all of them."

Wang's parents and several of her brothers and in-laws died in the landslide. She was in a neighboring village when the disaster struck.

All 46 people trapped in the landslide were confirmed dead on Saturday. The landslide also injured two people.

Wang's sister-in-law, Luo Yuanju, lost three children in the landslide. She and her husband rushed to the village when they heard of the disaster, she said.

"I don't know how I can go on without my children," Luo said. She said the disaster filled her with extreme grief.

Mourners have traveled as far as 600 km to grieve for their deceased relatives.

Zhao Mingcai, a 36-year-old man wearing a torn and muddy green jacket, became tearful when discussing the nine relatives he had lost, including his child.

"I didn't get to see my child one last time," he said, his hands trembling. "How can I forgive myself?"

Zhao traveled to Gaopo from the provincial capital of Kunming on Saturday, only to see his home buried under mud. Ragged clothes, children's backpacks and fallen trees can still be seen in the debris.

Nineteen children, including Zhao's, were killed in the landslide, which happened on their first day of winter break.

"Try to run and avoid the area if a landslide occurs," reads a faded safety message printed on an outdoor blackboard at the Gaopo Middle School.

Some of the deceased children are believed to have attended the school, which was not damaged in the landslide.

Students at the school are supposed to commit the warning to memory, even though landslides are rare in the area.

"I don't know if my child read the message or not," Zhao said before falling silent.

(China Daily 01/14/2013 page3)