Shocks Destroy Houses As Lake Threatens Towns

By JILL DREW

By Jill Drew

The Washington Post

CHENGDU, China

More than two weeks after a catastrophic earthquake, a pair of powerful aftershocks collapsed hundreds of thousands of homes in central China Tuesday, as soldiers and engineers worked feverishly to prevent a swelling lake from inundating nearby towns.

No deaths were immediately reported in the aftershocks. Many of the more than 400,000 homes that collapsed, according to the official New China News Service, were already badly damaged by a 5.9- magnitude quake that rocked the area shortly after the initial May 12 earthquake.

Still, the tremors in Qingchuan county, in Sichuan province, and Ningqiang county, in neighboring Shaanxi province, were a further reminder that the crisis in this region, and the attendant anxieties of its people, are unlikely to dissipate any time soon. More than 67,000 people have been reported dead, and about 21,000 are missing.

The homes of as many as 14 million people were destroyed or severely damaged by the 7.9-magnitude quake, and the Chinese government is scrambling to establish shelters.

On Tuesday, officials evacuated 80,000 people from a valley that officials fear is at serious risk of being submerged in floodwaters from a nearby lake. Tangjiashan Lake was formed after the earthquake poured mud and rocks into the Jian River in northern Sichuan province and created a barrier dam.

All afternoon Tuesday, a large Russian cargo helicopter made trips to ferry earthmoving equipment from a base at the nearby town of Leigu up to the dam site. State media broadcast pictures of the excavators at work, attempting to dig out a controllable escape route for the 300 million cubic yards of water pooling in the lake. Work continued into the night.

The government had already ordered 80,000 people to move to higher ground, away from the planned path of the waters.

The lake water rose to 2,380 feet Monday, only 85 feet below the lowest part of the barrier, the Reuters news agency quoted Liu as saying. On Tuesday, the water level rose another six feet, the New China News Agency reported.

China’s State Council, at a meeting Tuesday presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, said removing the danger of Tangjiashan Lake had become one of the “most pressing jobs at hand.”

olympic security

BEIJING | China has ratcheted up surveillance and security in every phase of the Beijing Olympics – even the tickets.

In a move unprecedented for the Olympics, tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are embedded with a microchip containing the bearer’s photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail and telephone numbers.

The intent is to keep potential troublemakers from the 91,000- seat National Stadium as billions watch on TV screens around the world. Along with terrorists, Chinese officials fear protesters might wreck the glitzy ceremonies, unfurling Tibet flags, anti- China banners or even T-shirts adorned with strident messages.

– The Associated Press

Originally published by BY JILL DREW.

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