China Eases Quake-swelling Lake to Protect Civilians

Anchor:
China is pressing on with efforts to drain water from a huge quake-induced lake which threatens thousands of people downstream. Local officials say the threat of the quake lakes will be alleviated by next week under favorable weather conditions. CRI Reporter Chen Xi brings you the latest from the lake in Beichuan county.

Reporter:
Chinese soldiers have hauled explosives deep into the disaster zone to unblock a river threatening to cause a second round of destruction. Storms were also forecast in the region, adding to concerns that more unstable quake-spawned lakes would be formed.

The Tangjiashan lake, the largest of its kind, is reportedly already holding enough water to fill 50,000 Olympic swimming pools and could cause immense damage if it overflowed.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from the downstream regions. The lake is currently swelling because of a landslide near Beichuan, one of the worst hit areas in Sichuan province.

Helicopters are also flying earth-moving machines to the region, after bad weather initially grounded the aircraft.

A senior official with Beichuan county, Song Ming, explains how they plan to unblock the landslides.

"We plan to creating a waterway using heavy machinery and explosives. Many huge rocks must be exploded since the bulldozers can not move them. Only in this way, can we dig a six to eight-meter deep channel to lead the water out of the lake."

At present, over 30 large-scale operational machines have been deployed by the lake by heavy helicopters.

The captain of a Russian helicopter Anton Lebedev tells me that operation have so far proceeded smoothly.

"Our primary task here is to help the Chinese side transport the heavy machines to the disaster zone, because the swallow lake is threatening cities and villages. The situation is rather tense, but the work is quite smooth. I believe we gain control of the situation in a couple of days."
According to local officials, the threat of the quake-formed lakes will be alleviated by next week, weather permitting.

Located downstream, the evacuation of Mianyang city is going on in full swing. City official Liu Xulong tells me people are being relocated in an orderly fashion.

"The evacuation plan is distributed with each company and community in the city. Full details of our plans are available to the public. Right now, the possibility of a flood taking place is diminishing. As long as there is no rainstorm, we're fine since channels are already leading water out of the lake."

Workers are digging an artificial channel through mud and debris to divert some of the lake's 130 million cubic meters of water. Officials say that if Tangjiashan lake bursts its mud banks, more than 1 million people have to be evacuated to safer places.

Chen Xi, CRI News, Beichuan county, Sichuan Province.