Associated Press
As Chinese workers struggled to keep roads open to provide a lifeline for quake survivors, the government warned Wednesday that rebuilding after the disaster would be "arduous."
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan Province May 12 sent dirt and rocks tumbling into valleys, blocking roads to hinder relief efforts and clogging rivers that have developed into fast-rising lakes.
"We are racing against time to repair damaged infrastructure," said Mu Hong, a deputy director at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, adding that some roads were only reopened on a temporary basis.
"The high risk of mudslides and landslides makes our efforts more difficult."
Premier Wen Jiabao told a meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, that handling the danger from the swelling lakes was the "most pressing task" in the disaster recovery effort, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The government has allocated $28.6 million to deal with the swelling lakes, Xinhua said. Of 34 lakes created by the earthquake in the mountainous province, 28 were at risk of bursting, according to the agency.
Government officials had said earlier that the recovery effort would take three years in hard-hit Sichuan.
"Due to the immense magnitude of loss resulted from the quake, production recovery and reconstruction of the quake-hit region will be arduous in the near future," the commission said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed deaths from the quake climbed toward an expected toll of more than 80,000. China's Cabinet said Wednesday that 68,109 people were killed, with 19,851 still missing.
Emergency Evacuations
In the disaster zone, 158,000 people have been evacuated and dozens of villages emptied in case the newly formed Tangjiashan lake bursts before soldiers and engineers can drain it, state media said Wednesday.
Troops are using explosives to clear debris and helicopters to airlift heavy moving equipment to dig drainage channels from the lake, located about two miles (three kilometers) above the devastated town of Beichuan.
