I. The death toll from a massive rain-triggered mudslide in Zhouqu County in northwest China's Gansu Province early Sunday morning has risen to 702, with 1,042 others still missing, local civil affairs authorities told a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

II. Premier Wen Jiabao has urged rescuers to race against time to search survivors after these catastrophic mudslides happened. "For those who were buried under the debris, now it's the most crucial time to save their lives," Wen stressed during a meeting held at the county government late Sunday night. He said the search and rescue work must not be halted as long as the possibility for finding survivors still exists.

Wen instructed the rescuers to locate places where most people were buried or trapped and to clean the sludge as soon as possible. He also demanded that traffic, power supply and telecommunication in the county should be resumed as soon as possible. "And people who have been evacuated should be taken good care of," Wen stressed.

Wen and some officials with the State Council left Beijing Sunday noon and arrived at the mountain county Sunday afternoon. He began inspecting the disaster areas soon after the arrival. He walked through the mud and rocks and came to the worst-hit Sanyan valley, where a village of some 300 households was entirely submerged by the mudslides.

Wen came to a rescue site where ten soldiers from PLA Lanzhou Military Area Command were busy pulling two persons trapped under debris. Wen told the trapped people to hold on and encouraged the hard working soldiers. Wen later inspected a barrier lake on the Bailong River which runs through Zhouqu and asked the rescue team to properly deal with the barrier lake as soon as possible.

III. Senior Chinese leaders on Tuesday called for greater efforts to save lives and property in the mudslide-flattened county of Zhouqu in northwestern China's Gansu Province.

Authorities must make proper arrangements, take more forceful measures and make the most of every second to save those trapped, said a statement issued after a meeting of members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.

Acknowledging the progress rescuers had made, the statement urged authorities to double their efforts in searching for survivors, draining mudslide-formed barrier lakes, and clearing sludge.

They should guard against secondary geological hazards, transport people affected to safe areas, and provide them with sufficient shelter, food, drinking water, and medical services.

People badly injured in the disaster should be transported to better equipped regions for treatment, the statement said.

Disease prevention work in the area must be strengthened.

It also asked local authorities to repair telecommunications, water and electricity supply facilities as well as roads and other infrastructure facilities as soon as possible, and to draw up reconstruction plans.

Local CPC committees and government departments should give top priority to emergency rescue and relief work, in order to minimize the damage caused by the mudslides, the statement said.

It demanded Party and government leaders work on the frontline of disaster relief, and asked members of the CPC to play a leading role in maintaining public stability.

The People's Liberation Army troops, armed police officers and police should be in the vanguard of disaster relief work, it said.

The statement cautioned authorities around the country on the need to step up flood prevention and relief work, enhance disaster prevention and reduction capabilities, and to cooperate with each other.