Storm may cause China's 'quake lake' to overflow
Posted: 27 May 2008 1152 hrs

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BEIJING: Thunderstorms forecast to sweep over China's quake zone Tuesday could cause a "quake lake" to overflow, threatening 1.3 million people, state media said.

Tangjiashan lake was created when the earthquake two weeks ago triggered a landslide, damming a river northeast of Maoxian near the epicentre in southwest China's Sichuan province, the China Daily said.

The lake already holds 130 million cubic metres (4.6 billion cubic feet) of water, and with the rain that is now expected it could soon reach the danger level where a breach is possible, according to the paper.

"We should work out the risk analysis reports as soon as possible because the rain upstream is raising the water level," Chen Lei, the minister of water resources, was quoted as saying.

It said 1.3 million people living in adjacent areas would be at risk if the lake overflowed. As a precaution, 30,000 people had already been evacuated to higher ground, it added.

The water level in the lake rose two metres (6.6 feet) on Saturday to 723 metres, only 29 metres below the lowest part of the barrier, according to the China Daily.

State media reported earlier that soldiers were rushing to the lake, carrying explosives, planning small controlled blasts to drain the swelling body of water.

Altogether 35 barrier lakes were formed by landslides after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The Sichuan earthquake, the most devastating in a generation, has exacted a confirmed death toll of 65,000 so far, with another 23,000 still missing. - AFP/ac