ding dong ditch it maaaan!

You have to understand the topography of China to get a full grasp of the tremendous challenge the Chinese face. Their entire western region is made of steep, and I mean very steep, mountains. It’s a zone where the Asian tectonic plate meets the European plate. From Tibet all the way to Chongqing it’s narly steeps with river valley’s scattered in between.
The earthquakes are frequent and the land is always loose and eroding. Landslides often mean entire rivers get blocked and choked off. The water rises and creates barrier lakes that eventually bust sending tidal waves of debris strewn waters crashing downward.
It’s an extreme land that will need extreme measures to control it.

Even worse is building on flood plains and beside live water and sea shores. Just like in Calforny, cann’t figure why the get mud slides, fires, and flloded canyons, DUH, don’t live in these senic areas and if you dinks want to pay the costs, either in lives, property and the cost of moving material for barriers. Thanks to all the envior smucks and protects the Kal iforatining Turd Bird Society of the socialist democrat party. Shut up and swim, dig, or get the hell out the way.

The best way to stay out of mud slides is to not build near an area where one could occur. Another help not mentioned above is to make sure the slope is tied down with roots of trees, etc. Too many times the landowner cuts all the trees down to give himself a better view. Grass will only hold down the very top but not if the water sinks past its roots.

Such building codes and systems can only work if the inspectors make sure they are used.

There was a school in Turkey a couple of years ago that collapsed in a minor earthquake, killing dozens of kids. When they inspected the ruins they found the contractor who had built the school had left out all the reinforcing bars needed to make the concrete strong. The inspector had been paid off.