RESIDENTS in a Luohu community were forced to evacuate their homes Monday night after two buildings were endangered following a river bank collapse. No casualties were reported.

Yesterday's Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported a heavy downpour had caused the collapse of the bank of a river that runs through the Xinwuxia community in Caopu Subdistrict.

People living in two buildings only two meters from the bank felt the bank collapse and fled their homes fearing the buildings might also be brought down, the Daily quoted unnamed residents as saying.

"This is the second time this has happened in a matter of just one month. We were so afraid that we dared not return home but stay overnight somewhere else," said a man surnamed Zhang who lives in one of the buildings.

A section of the same river bank collapsed two weeks ago during a heavy rainstorm accompanying Typhoon Neoguri. Zhang said there had been no repairs or maintenance work after the collapse, leaving the area quite vulnerable during heavy rains.

Another resident surnamed Yang said Monday night's collapse, although slightly smaller, involved an area of almost 100 square meters.

The concrete reinforcement for the river bank was built more than 20 years ago and there had been no collapse over the past two decades. Residents said it was likely that the bank had been undermined by a construction project on the upper section of the river.

"A lot of industrial waste from the construction project has been discharged in the river and has deposited in a large area of the river bed. This causes greater pressure against the bank," said an unnamed official with the water resources bureau.

(Wei Jie)