Gou Shaolin, 43, said he missed his family, his construction projects and his kiwi garden back home in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province. But he had a bigger role to fill - being the rescue commander for Blue Sky Rescue, a nonprofit civilian volunteer disaster rescue team.

When a landslide hit Xinmo village at around 5:40 am on Saturday, Gou, along with 40 volunteers, were the first civilians to reach the site, arriving at noon. Shortly afterward, their rescue dogs and life detectors found two buried bodies.

"It is much more serious than I thought. The boulders are extremely heavy, the weather is cold and rainy, and time is running out fast. Heavy machinery is also having trouble operating on the steep slope," Gou said.