The news comes as the previously confirmed death toll rose, from 74 to 79.

The tragedy happened on May 1, just a month after there were warning signs that something terrible could happen.

On April 1, large stones started rolling down the slopes towards the building, a Xinhua News Agency report said yesterday.

Yang Xugang, 49, a local farmer, said: "It is this ignorance that killed people.''

On April 16, under a contractor, Yang and several other farmers started reinforcing the hillside behind the building which was to soon become a makeshift tomb for the 79 that died.

Several days later, a big stone rolled down and damaged some of the workers' equipment, Yang said, but no one paid any attention.

After the accident more than 1,000 police, soldiers, and medical workers rushed to help with rescue work, Xinhua said.

"Now the debris has been cleared away and traffic has been moving on the adjacent road since Sunday morning,'' the report said.

The tragedy was categorized as a geological disaster by a special team of experts, said Xinhua.

The area around Chongqing has a complicated geological structure, soft layers of ground and abundant rain, all of which means the area is prone to drastic change, said experts.

Some of the dead were farmers or peddlers from the city's suburbs and their relatives have claimed their bodies, according to sources from teams that dealt with the aftermath.

At least 60 of the dead were from Wulong County, Chongqing Municipality, where the building crumbled, they said. Most of the others were visitors from surrounding areas and the coastal Fujian Province.

After the tragedy, the city's government issued an emergency circular urging all districts and counties to carry out a thorough check of the geological situation of buildings.

Some of which are likely to be threatened by landslides or mudslides in the coming rainy season, according to the report.

(China Daily 05/10/2001)