China on Sept 7 said it had invited foreign journalists to visit the mudslide-hit areas of Gyirong in the Xizang autonomous region to learn about rescue efforts and reconstruction progress in response to the international media's close attention to reporting on the debris flow disaster.
After days of relentless search and rescue efforts, Xiao Fugui, a police officer at the entry-exit border inspection station in Gyirong county, Shigatse, Xizang autonomous region, looked gaunt and exhausted.
As dawn broke in Gyirong county following another night of continuous rain on Sept 5, He Lei, a psychological counselor, began another day of providing counseling services to search and rescue personnel working on the front line of the mudslide-stricken Gyirong Port in Shigatse, Xizang autonomous region.
China has established communication and information-sharing mechanisms with the 23 home countries of the 261 foreign nationals who remain missing following the mudslide that struck Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border.
Chinese experts have intensified monitoring of landslides, barrier lakes, glaciers and glacial lakes around the mudslide-hit area in Gyirong county, Xizang autonomous region, to guard against secondary disasters and ensure the safety of ongoing rescue operations.
The recent debris flow that occurred on the Nepali side has underscored the urgent need for cross-border cooperation in disaster early warning, said Norbu Tsering, acting mayor of Shigatse, on Sept 6.
Visiting the mudslide-hit area at Gyirong Port in Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region on Sept 6, two foreign journalists were impressed by China's response to the disaster and urged the international community to work together in tackling climate change.