Prevention

Xu, the minister, who led a work group sent by the State Council, inspected the landslide-hit area in Yunnan on Saturday.

"The life of everyone is weightier than Mountain Tai. The geological disaster prevention and treatment is all-weather and allows no slackness," Xu stressed.

The Yunnan Geological Environmental Monitoring Institute said on its website the agency's early warning and forecasting of geological disasters for the flood season in 2012 ended on Nov 21, but would resume in case of abnormal high precipitation after that date.

The land and resources minister said that "the (Zhaojiagou) landslide reminded us of carrying out geological disaster prevention and treatment whether it is flood season or not."

In 2007, monitoring and early warning by Zhenxiong's land and resources bureau successfully saved the lives of 363 residents in Dayuanzi village, where a landslide happened just half an hour after their evacuation.

In 2012, the country successfully forecast 3,532 geological disasters, preventing 39,964 people from being harmed and avoiding 810 million yuan (about $129 million) in direct economic losses, said Xu.

"But each life is priceless. Each death is heart-rending," Xu added in the interview with Xinhua.

Yunnan will carry out a thorough inspection and monitoring of disaster-prone areas in the province, according to the provincial working team dealing with the aftermath of the Zhaojiagou tragedy.

"The all-out rescue efforts did not bring miracles. More than 40 compatriots died all of a sudden... We wish the dead rest in peace and that we can be more capable to reduce the losses of disasters," read a post on the Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging service in China."It was a natural disaster, but we should learn more from it."