Flood Threat Prompts Evacuations in Quake-Hit China

Audra Ang in Mianyang, China
Associated Press

May 27, 2008

Potentially catastrophic flooding prompted emergency evacuations in China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday, even as aftershocks continued to batter the region and the threat of disease loomed for millions of refugees.

About 80,000 people were evacuated downstream of Tangjiashan, an unstable earthquake-created dam that is threatening to collapse.

The lake, near the town of Beichuan, is the largest of some 35 new bodies of water created by river-blocking rubble after a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Sichuan May 12.

Some rising floodwaters have already swallowed villages, though only Tangjiashan posed a risk of another big catastrophe.

Hundreds of troops were working around the clock to dig a channel that would divert the rising waters before they breach the top of the rubble wall.

Officials fear the loose soil and debris wall could crumble easily if the water starts cascading over the top, sending a torrent flooding down into the valley below.

Tangjiashan now holds 34 billion gallons (130 billion liters) of water and was rising by more than three feet (a meter) every 24 hours, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

In a live broadcast, state television showed heavy earth-moving equipment being used to carve a 200-yard (180-meter) channel to help drain the lake's water.

"We are prepared to get rid of the trees by chopping and explosion. After that, the second batch of equipment will be moved in," Liu Ning, chief engineer at the Ministry of Water Resources, was quoted as saying on CCTV.

The tree stumps were hampering heavy-duty excavators that were airlifted by helicopter in recent days to Tangjiashan, according to Xinhua.

Late-Night Evacuation

Xinhua also reported that emergency workers labored into the night to empty more than 30 villages near the lake.

The people were sent to camps like the one outside Jiangyou, where an Associated Press reporter saw 12 to 15 people crammed into each of about 40 government-issued tents pitched on a hillside overlooking the river.

"We were told that so far it is the safest place for us to stay if the dam of the lake crashes," said Liu Yuhua, whose village of Huangshi was one of those emptied. "But we will have to move farther uphill if the situation turns out to be worse."

Another group of about 80,000 have already been moved out of the valley, Xinhua said.

More Aftershocks

Aftershocks also continued to rattle the region, causing more damage and injuries and jangling the already-frayed nerves of survivors.

Two temblors Tuesday caused more than 420,000 houses to collapse in Qingchuan county, Xinhua reported. Sixty-three people were injured, including six who were critically hurt.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured a magnitude 5.2 aftershock just after 4 p.m. local time (4 a.m. EDT) and one measuring 5.7 about a half-hour later.

The aftershocks jolted nerves already frazzled by a major temblor Sunday that knocked down thousands of buildings that had survived the initial quake and killed eight people.

One quake expert said that aftershocks in the area could continue for several months, though they would grow weaker as time passes.

"Judging from previous earthquakes of a similar magnitude, this time the aftershocks may last for two or three months," He Yongnian, a former deputy director of China Seismological Bureau, told Xinhua.

The number of deaths from the quake climbed toward an expected toll of 80,000 or more. China's Cabinet said Tuesday that 67,183 people were confirmed killed, with 20,790 still missing.

(See photos of the quake devastation.)

Storms on Horizon

Adding to the urgency of operations, thunderstorms were forecast for parts of Sichuan this week—a foretaste of the summer rainy season that accounts for more than 70 percent of the 24 inches (61 centimeters) of rain that falls on the area each year.

Officials said that there was no threat to artificial dams in the mountainous region that were weakened by the quake.

At one dam site near the town of Mianyang, villagers working in nearby rice fields said cracks had appeared in the dam wall after the quake but that government workers had reinforced it with steel rods.

In the town of Yingxiu, explosives were used to demolish some damaged buildings, a new element to the massive cleanup operation and a further sign that officials have stopped rescue and recovery efforts in some places.

Teams have been pulling down creaky buildings across Sichuan using mostly excavators, bulldozers, and other heavy machinery.

On Monday, the giant panda Xi Xi was captured near its Wolong reserve area home, one day after officials had made a sighting of the missing animal.

Although the reserve is located near the epicenter of the quake, the bulk of its giant pandas escaped the devastation unscathed, though one remains missing.

Threat of Disease

Also on Tuesday, health officials said higher-than-normal rates of stomach pains and fever had been reported among the millions of quake survivors, but that no major disease outbreaks had occurred.

About 5 million people were left homeless by the quake, and many are living in tents or makeshift camps clustered throughout the disaster zone.

Qi Xiaoqiu, the director of disease prevention at the Health Ministry, said the quake had knocked out much of the region's health infrastructure. He said 12 field hospitals had been erected and tens of thousands of health professionals sent into the zone.

"With the destruction by the quake, the living and sanitary conditions have worsened for the local population," Qi said in Beijing. "Their physical conditions are weakened, [they are] more vulnerable to disease."

Tuberculosis, hepatitis, diarrhea, and other conditions remained a threat, but so far no outbreaks had been reported, he said.