Hero Prevents Tragedy By Predicting Landslide
Beijing: Just 10 minutes before a massive landslide, a man stopped 15 cars heading to the scene, preventing what could have become a tragedy. Continous rain in recent days had loosened rocks and mud on the mountains surrounding Beijing.
At 8.30am (12pm Fiji time) on Saturday, some 30,000 cubic metres of large rocks fell, covering a section of a mountain road in Fangshan District. Cars were traveling along the road, their drivers unaware of the impending danger.
No casualties were caused nor cars damaged, thanks to local resident An Hongsan who predicted the disaster and stopped the cars in time.
In June 2017, along with other villagers, An joined a grassroots geological disaster prevention team organised by the Fangshan branch of Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning and Land Resources Management.
“I patrol around 4km to 5km of this road, two or three times every day, checking for falling rocks and monitoring the water levels in rivers,” he said.
He recalled that he felt something different on Saturday morning, “I heard the sound of rocks falling down the mountain before I left the village. “When I arrived at the road section, I saw big rocks on the road,” he said. “I felt very nervous because it seemed that rocks were falling down continuously on that particular area of the mountain.”
He immediately started to stop the cars travelling towards the area and called some of his colleagues and neighbors to help him. A total of 15 cars carrying 28 people were stopped on the road. Videos of the massive landslide have been circulated online and An’s heroic deed has drawn appreciation from many.
“I am not a hero, that is just my job,” An said.
In recent years, Beijing Municipal Commission for City Planning and Land Resources Management has been mobilising villagers to join natural disaster prevention efforts.