From: Reuters
Published May 27, 2008 07:24 AM
China works around the clock to drain quake lake
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese soldiers were working round the clock
on Tuesday to dig a giant sluice to ease pressure on a swelling "quake
lake," with plans to evacuate 100,000 people to avert a new disaster, state
media said.
China has put the death toll from the earthquake that struck Sichuan
province on May 12 at 65,080, with the figure certain to rise as searchers
account for 23,150 missing. A total of 360,058 people were injured.
Soldiers and police had trekked to the Tangjiashan lake carrying dynamite
ready to blast the mud and rubble blocking the flow of water from a river
and creating one of 35 quake lakes formed after landslides triggered by the
massive tremor.
Some 30,000 people living below the lake in the mountainous southwestern
province have been evacuated as a precaution, but Xinhua news agency said
100,000 more would be moved.
"It's better for them to complain about the trouble that the
evacuation would bring than to shed tears after the possible danger," Liu
Ning, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources, was quoted as
saying.
The lake had risen to 725.3 meters on Monday, only 26 meters below the
lowest part of the barrier, he said.
By Monday night, around 600 engineers and soldiers had gathered at the
landslip and were taking turns to work through the night.
"Because of the lack of tents, some soldiers had to sleep outdoors on the
blockage at night," Xinhua said.
The Communist Party's decision-making Politburo warned on Monday that the
situation remained "grim" and relief work arduous for the "most destructive"
tremor recorded since before the birth of modern China in 1949.
The massive relief effort, which involves food, tents and clothing for
millions, as well as reconstructing housing and getting help to isolate
villages, is expected to take up to three years.
The biggest appeal is for tents for 5 million homeless people as the weather
turns warmer and wetter, risking the spread of disease.
(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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