Evacuations ongoing as China works to shore up quake lakes
source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4013413.ece
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Tangjiashan Lake is one of 35 that have formed after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan province on May 12, causing hundreds of landslides to block the area’s fast-flowing rivers.
The water levels at Tangjiashan have continued to rise ever since. They rose by another 1.79 metres today and are now just 25 metres below the lake barrier.
80,000 local residents are due to be evacuated from the area by midnight tonight, joining another 70,000 people who have already been evacuated from Mianyang city.
"It's better for them to complain about the trouble that the evacuation would bring than to shed tears after the possible danger," said Liu Ning, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.
The lake currently holds 130 million cubic meters of water. If it burst its banks entirely, more than 1.3 million people would need to be relocated. Inaccessible by road, dozens of diggers have been dropped into the mountainous area by helicopter and more than 600 engineers and soldiers have come in on foot. They are working around the clock to create a sluice to drain the water.
But the Chinese state news agency said today that at least 50,000 cubic metres of debris would have to be removed to build the sluice and it is not expected to be finished before June 5.
Meanwhile, the government raised the count of the confirmed dead to 67,183 today, a jump of around 2,000. Almost 28,000 people are still missing and the number of injured has gone up to almost 362,000.
China will be rocked by powerful earthquake aftershocks for months, a senior expert warned today, as two more strong tremors struck.
He Yongnian, former deputy director of the China Seismological Bureau, said aftershocks would continue for two or three months. The latest, measuring 5.4, occurred today, with the tremor felt in Chengdu.
There were no immediate reports of major damage.
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- tags:
- China Earthquake, Evacuations, Lake Damage
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Another 80,000 Chinese people are being evacuated from near a lake formed by landslides in this month's huge earthquake, state media report.
Experts fear the build-up of water at the swollen Tangjiashan lake could burst the banks, deluging the area.
About 70,000 people have already been moved from nearby Mianyang city in Sichuan province, Xinhua said.
Chinese soldiers have been working all night to dig a channel to ease pressure from the so-called "quake lake".
The official death toll from the 12 May quake was raised slightly on Tuesday to 67,183, with another 20,790 listed as missing.
Landslides triggered by the disaster have blocked dozens of rivers in Sichuan province, leading to the formation of many new lakes, some of which have already engulfed villages.
Officials are particularly worried about the Tangjiashan lake, where the water level has risen rapidly to within 26 metres of the fragile dam's lip.
Landslide debris is holding back about 130 million cubic metres of water at the site in Beichuan county.
Emergency workers aim to evacuate the 80,000 people by midnight (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
Troops are using earth-moving equipment as they try to ease pressure on the lake's banks. They are also preparing to use explosives.
More than five million people remain homeless following the 7.9 magnitude quake and the area is still being rocked by sizeable aftershocks.
Six people died and 300,000 more homes were wrecked by a strong tremor on Sunday.
Storms have been forecast for the region, potentially compounding problems as rain water drains into the lakes.
Officials have said that reconstruction work in the area is set to take at least three years.
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