China plans to spend 2.23 billion yuan (US$328 million) to improve disaster prevention systems in a mountainous northwest China town devastated by a landslide earlier this month, local officials said Tuesday.

The planned multi-billion project to prevent further geological disasters in Zhouqu County, south of Gansu Province, had passed appraisal by experts from the Ministry of Land and Resources, said Guo Yuhu, vice-director of the provincial land and resources department.

The plan is scheduled to be carried out in three phases from 2010 to 2012, Guo said.

Guo said the project includes improving disaster warning systems, drawing up emergency resettlement plans, conducting a thorough study of the geological disaster hazards, and setting up a capable monitoring network.

A late-night avalanche of mud and rocks roared down the mountain slopes in the county seat of Zhouqu on Aug. 8, burying villages and blocking the waterway of a major regional river.

At least 1,447 people were killed and 318 others remain missing, according to the latest available government statistics.

The mudslide left a thick layer of sludge about 5 kilometer long and 500 meters wide in the center of the town. Many bodies are believed to be still buried in the mud, but authorities banned their retrieval on Sunday on public health grounds.

Zhouqu has been frequently hit by earthquakes, landslides and mud flows, but geological experts and residents blamed the sloppy construction of mudslide barriers, lack of adequate monitoring and warning systems, and rapid urban development as causes of the catastrophe.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2010)