Worries about damage to Chinese dam
Damage to a large Chinese dam near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake raises worries about more troubles to come in the devastated region
The death toll in China’s massive earthquake soared by thousands yesterday as troops rushed to a dam feared critically damaged. About 2,000 troops were sent to work on the dam near the epicenter of Monday’s earthquake, after reports of severe cracks, state-run media reported. The Ministry of Water Resources warned that an irrigation system and Dujiangyan City — which has a population of about 630,000 — “would be swamped,” if major problems emerged at the dam, China.org said. Late Wednesday, Xinhua reported the Zipingpu Dam was stable and safe after investigation. The Zipingpu dam, upriver from Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, was in “great danger,” the Xinhua news agency reported. China.org said that the 7.9 magnitude earthquake had caused “severe cracks” in the dam. The “plant and associated buildings have collapsed and some are partly sunk,” it said of the hydropower station. Xinhua earlier reported that the death toll had risen to 14,866. An unofficial tally of deaths in individual communities — as reported by the news agency over several days — puts the toll at 19,565. Xinhua also said nearly 26,000 people were still buried under debris and another 14,000 missing. More than 64,000 people sustained injuries.
China is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1976 earthquake here killed more than 250,000 people. Analysts said the Chinese response to Monday’s quake had been the most transparent of any disaster, with state media frequently updating casualty tolls and deploying troops rapidly to the worst-hit areas. Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan, said about 3.5 million homes were destroyed in the province. David Jones, an English teacher in the city of Chengdu, said: “People are doing everything they can to stay outside,” he said. “In a lot of cases, they can’t return to their buildings.” Wenchuan is the refuge for much of China’s panda population, and the State Forestry Administration said the 67 captive pandas among the more than 130 pandas in the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve were not injured. However, the caregivers were worried about the bamboo leaf supply.
