China Prepares to Blast Quake Lake to Stop Flooding (Update1)

By Dune Lawrence and Aaron Sheldrick

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese troops prepared to blast barriers caused by the country's deadliest earthquake in 32 years to drain lakes that are threatening to burst and inundate towns trying to recover from the disaster.

About 600 military engineers and soldiers were working on the barrier that created the lake upstream from Beichuan in Sichuan province by 9 p.m. local time yesterday, state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Bulldozers and other digging equipment were flown in and officials are preparing to evacuate people.

``Around 100,000 would be evacuated to ensure their safety according to the current drainage plan,'' Liu Ning, the Ministry of Water Resources chief engineer, was cited as saying.

The Tangjiashan lake is one of 35 caused by the earthquake on May 12 that killed 65,080 people and left 23,150 missing, according to figures released yesterday by the government. The earthquake devastated highways and roads throughout mountainous eastern Sichuan, forcing soldiers and engineers to trek to areas such as Tangjiashan carrying dynamite and equipment.

The water level of Tangjiashan, the most dangerous of the quake lakes, rose 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) yesterday, Xinhua said.

The lake contains 130 million cubic meters (34 billion gallons) of water and is about 26 meters below the lowest part of the barrier, which was created when a part of a mountain collapsed into the Jianhe River.

Reinforcing Barriers

As many as 1,800 engineers, soldiers and policemen are being sent to the barrier. Soldiers are bringing in 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of dynamite each to move as much as 100,000 tons of debris and drain the lake, Xinhua said.

Engineers are also working to reinforce barriers downstream to prevent flooding when the water is released. About 687 kilometers of embankments throughout Sichuan need to be checked, Xinhua said.

Evacuation plans have been prepared for communities near 19 lakes, E. Jingping, deputy minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, said May 25. Sixty-nine reservoirs were also in ``immediate'' danger of bursting and measures, such as draining the worst-damaged constructions, are being taken.

Areas around the disaster zone may experience light rain through May 29, according to the China Meteorological Administration's forecast today. Sichuan's rainy season will start next month.

Aftershocks Hit

Aftershocks are disrupting relief work and bringing more rubble down from mountains. A magnitude-4.6 quake hit at 8:46 a.m. yesterday in the region, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. A 6-magnitude quake in the area on May 25 left at least 8 people dead, Xinhua said yesterday.

The 7.9-magnitude temblor two weeks ago left more than 5 million people homeless.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs signed contracts with 75 enterprises to deliver 900,000 tents before June 20, it said in a statement. Almost 496,000 tents were delivered by yesterday, Xinhua said.

The government earlier called for 3.3 million tents and said it will build 1.5 million temporary houses for survivors.

Donations from overseas and at home stood at 30.88 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) by yesterday, Xinhua said.

The May 12 earthquake was the most powerful to hit China, the world's most populous country, since a magnitude 8.6 quake struck Tibet in 1950, killing 1,526 people.

A 7.5 magnitude temblor in Tangshan in the northeast killed 250,000 in 1976, according to the USGS. China's seismology department said the Sichuan quake had a magnitude of 8.

To contact the reporters on this story: Dune Lawrence in Beijing at dlawrence6@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net.