Quake lake near bursting point
2008-06-06 09:14
Mianzhu - China's quake-hit southwest braced on Friday for the breaching of a swollen "quake lake", with water expected to finally reach the top and put to test an emergency drainage plan.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who arrived at the landslide-created Tangjiashan lake late on Thursday, was seen on state television ordering the evacuation of everyone who could be in harm's way.
Up to 1.3 million people could be in danger of floods if the vast amount of rock and debris that has blocked the Jianjiang river bursts open, officials have warned.
More than 250 000 people have already been evacuated but many others will have to be moved out if the quake lake empties downstream rapidly.
According to local authorities, the controlled draining of some of the 200 million cubic metres of water behind the dam could start on Friday afternoon, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Drainage
On Friday morning, the water level had climbed to within just 50 centimetres below the lowest point on a sluice channel that Chinese soldiers dug last week, it said.
"It is estimated that the water-level will slowly rise to the sluice after 16:00 (08:00 GMT)," Xinhua quoted Rao Xiping, head of the Beichuan station of the Mianyang Municipal Hydrology Bureau, as saying.
More military personnel were airlifted to the dam on Friday for further drainage preparations as weather forecasts predicted rain and thunderstorms this weekend, state television said.
The May 12 quake triggered massive landslides in mountainous Sichuan province, blocking rivers and creating more than 30 unstable "quake lakes" that are threatening millions of people.
The death toll from the earthquake rose to 69 127 on Thursday, with another 17 918 missing, the government said.
- AFP