It has been more than 58 hours since the Sichuan Maoxian landslide in China, and time is ticking faster than ever towards the "Golden 72-Hour Period".

The "Golden 72-Hour Period" is the period when there are most signs of life after a natural disaster.

After which, such signs will be more difficult to locate, and more likely than not, it will be a case of salvage operations.

The landslide hit the village of Xinmo, in Maoxin county of Sichuan province, at about 6am local time on Saturday.

Here's the before-and-after photos of the disaster:

Before. Pretty lil' cosy village. (Source)

After. The disaster was so bad it doesn't look like there used to be a village here. (Source)

Here's a gif modelled to show how the disaster could have taken place:

Still too painful to see even though this isn't real. (Source)

Here's the rescue that's still taking place:

Everyone's working hard. (Source: here, here, here, & here)

Working just as hard even when it's getting dark. (Source: here, here, & here)

Volunteers were scrambling to help the professional rescuers. (Source)

Having heard some signs of life, this large group of rescuers quickly hauled up the rock together. (Source)

Rescuers are not limited to humans. Rescue dogs are working extremely hard too:

Transporting the dogs and themselves over to the other side to do more work. (Source: here, & here)

Too much work. The dogs are thirsty. (Source: here, & here)

And tired. (Source)

Transporting a deceased body. (Source)A minute of silence for one of the deceased victims. (Source)

Dead beaten from endless hours of work without sleep. So tired they can just sleep anywhere. (Source: here, & here)

Rescuing is hard work. Kudos to all rescuers for their efforts.

More volunteers helped out by giving the rescue team food.

It's Hari Raya week for the Chinese Muslims, but instead of enjoying their holidays, they chose to show that they care by transporting and making food for the rescue teams. (Source)

Carrying heavy tonnes of food and walking many miles to make a contribution. (Source)

Inviting the rescuers over and making more food for them. (Source)

The medical team are also attending as fast as they can to the survivors - a baby and parents. (Source)

The rescuers explained that they located the baby and the baby's parents when they heard the baby's cries among the pile of rocks. (Source: here, & here)

But there's not much hope left for these friends and families.

Weeping uncontrollably. (Source)

Nurses attending to the traumatised families and friends. (Source)

A rescuer lending his shoulder to the affected. (Source)

These two little girls are paying their last respects to their father after identifying his hand in the rubble. They found him at the same location where their house is and told the rescuers that there is no need to dig up his body any further, as they'd like their parents' bodies to remain in this same place whenever they come to pay respects to them in the future. (Source)

If this didn't pain your heart, we don't know what will.

This dog comes from the same village and looks incredibly depressed. Refusing to eat or drink, it's said to be limping and hovering around several big stones for hours. Rescuers believe it has been trying to find his buried owner for hours. (Source)

By the look on its face, we think he pretty much knows what had happened.

One of the last things the rescue teams have got to do before leaving the place of tragedy is to disinfect it. This is to deter any pests from coming near the decomposing bodies and therefore taking diseases with them which may cause outbreaks of epidemics. And that's what they're doing right now: When rescue work has come to this stage, we all know what it means. (Source)

We can only hope for a miracle now. May the survivors and family and friends of the victims recover from this psychological trauma soon.

The public praying for the victims. (Source)

In more recent updates from Chinese sources, Chinese authorities have begun to issue warnings for the rescue teams to leave the place as soon as possible, as they have predicted the imminent approach of a second wave of landslide.

Chinese state media reported that 141 people may have been buried.

Here are totally unrelated but equally interesting articles:

Irrefutable proof why yellow is the new “in” colour right now in Singapore

We love to say “sweet until got diabetes”, but that’s not actually true.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.