China working on war footing to drain "quake lakes"

Engineers are digging a diversion channel to prevent flooding from the Tangjiashan lake which was formed when landslides blocked Jiangjiang river above Beichuan County, near the epicenter of magnitude 8 quake, the deadliest in three decades.

The threat of flooding from the quake comes even as aftershocks continued to rumble across quake-battered areas triggering more anxiety and fear in the temblor-weary people, millions of whom have been rendered homeless, and adding to pressure on authorities engaged in mammoth relief efforts.

Tangjiashan is one of the 35 lakes formed by the quake-induced landslides and mudflows.

As it is inaccessible by road on vehicles and can only be reached by foot or air, hundreds of troops and armed police carrying dynamite have trekked there to blast away the barrier.

Two aftershocks in the disaster zone on Tuesday flattened 420,000 houses in the quake-shattered Sichuan province and left 63 people injured, even as the official death toll reached 67,183.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told a meeting of the State Council quake relief headquarters on Tuesday that handling the "quake lakes" was the "most pressing task at present", the newspaper said.

In a telephonic talk, President Hu Jintao told Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who is overseeing the quake relief work that the relief task force must make sure that no serious problems occur in the emergencies, state run news agency said.

Tiangjiashan lake is holding 130 million cubic metres of water or the volume of water in about 50,000 Olympic size swimming pools, Liu Ning, chief engineer of the Ministry of Water Resources was quoted as saying by the news paper.

Many towns and villages downstream held evacuation drills on Tuesday, it said.

Meanwhile, a report prepared by the State Council said rehabilitation in the quake-hit zone would take a long time as a number of towns and villages need to move to new sites.

As the relief work had moved into a new stage, the headquarters would set up a team to evaluate local geological conditions and select new locations, it said.

The report also said that as the summer and rainy season are drawing near, the relief task force faces great challenge to maintain public hygiene and prevent epidemic outbreak.

Poor condition of roads in worst-hit areas added more difficulties to relief work and it is very hard to carry relief material in some remote villages and take the injured out.

Source: By DDNEWS