CHINA:ENGINEERS HAVE drained water from the brimming Tangjiashan quake lake down a man-made channel, relieving anxieties downstream that deadly flooding could join the litany of horrors visited on this region in the last four weeks.
While the gushing torrents come as a relief, and are a major achievement for the army engineers who have worked to control the build-up of the lake, the sight of the huge body of water bearing down on the lower levels of the smashed town of Beichuan remains a depressing one, the latest indignity to be inflicted on this cursed Sichuan town.
Local residents stood on higher ground and watched as the deluge washed away a town's history. So devastated is Beichuan that it will not be rebuilt in the current location. A reconstructed town will be located 20 miles to the southwest where it is less at risk from quakes.
Downriver, people are taking no chances and are ready for possible flooding. Mianyang, where many of the homeless have taken shelter, is on full alert and the citizens of tent cities have been practising evacuation techniques. Many homes in the town of Qingyi are at risk.
For days, troops have been blasting with dynamite and launching shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles to try and blast debris to form the channel diverting the water away from the lake.
Engineers were taking no chances about whether or not they can control the flow out of the lake, and have moved a quarter of a million of the 1.3 million people living downstream.
The death toll from the earthquake is now 69,000 people. 17,551 are still missing with thousands more injured and millions left homeless.
Searchers have finally discovered the wreckage of a rescue helicopter that crashed in the mountains late last month as it was bringing injured people to safety. The Russian-designed Mi-171 crashed on May 31st near the epicentre in Wenchuan after hitting fog and turbulence.
The recriminations are starting at an official level. State media reported how at least 15 Sichuan officials have been removed from their posts for mishandling relief work, while another 13 were given other forms of administrative punishment.
A further 50 were promoted for their work in the quake - the Communist Party has scored high among ordinary people for its swiftness in dealing with the disaster.
There were poignant scenes at the world's most famous panda reserve at Wolong yesterday, where staff buried Mao Mao, the only panda from the reserve confirmed killed in a landslide triggered by the quake.