1.   By fall, everything except the top layer of straw should have decomposed, enriching and loosening the earth underneath.

2.   A burst water main on a mountaintop loosened earth and sent it barreling downhill, burying chalets and farms and leaving three people missing, police said Wednesday.

3.   It said the slide probably was trigged by rain that loosened the earth.

4.   Landslides in Indonesia are frequently triggered by heavy tropical rains falling on areas where the earth already is loosened by widespread deforestation.

5.   Several days ago, downpours had loosened earth on the eroded hillside.

6.   The landslide struck the track Monday after torrential rains loosened earth on surrounding mountainsides.

7.   The summer is the only period when the snow melts on the mountain passes, but that also is the time of the monsoon rains that loosen the earth.

8.   Xinhua said the slide probably was trigged by rain that loosened the earth.

9.   Xinhua said rain had probably triggered the slide by loosening the earth.

10.   Heavy rain since last Friday loosened earth and boulders piled up by the small-scale miners who burrowed into the mountainside, the official said.