The Chinese government Monday continued to dispatch relief materials and rescue teams to Zhouqu County, in northwest China's Gansu Province, where hundreds of people were buried in mudslides early Sunday.

The Ministry of Commerce announced that it has launched an emergency response mechanism under which it has ordered supplies of relief materials to the county, including 16,700 tents, 110,000 blankets, 222,000 cotton coats, 333,000 electric torches and four million candles.

Rain-triggered mudslide swept through Zhouqu early Sunday, leaving 137 people dead and 1,348 others still missing as of 4:07 PM Monday, the provincial civil affairs department said.

About 45,000 people have been evacuated, and at least 307 homes were destroyed, according to local authorities.

The Ministry also ordered 435,000 boxes of mineral water, 10 tonnes of ham sausages, 295,000 boxes of instant noodles and other food supplies from its emergency stock and suppliers, which are en route to Zhouqu County.

The Ministry of Railways said it has organized special trains for rescue and relief transportation. The first train reached Zhouqu with 500 packs of sleeping bags as of 11:08 PM Sunday.

China's State Forestry Administration said it had allocated one million yuan (about US$147,500) of disaster-relief fund to the disaster-hit region. Local forestry authorities in Gansu Province have also sent a team of 700 forestry police to help mudslide victims.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2010)