CHINA:Fears of a devastating flood from a lake formed by last month's Sichuan earthquake eased yesterday after soldiers and engineers completed a channel to drain away the rising water.
Authorities had evacuated 197,000 people and drawn up plans to move as many as another 1.3 million because of the risks of a collapse of the Tangjiashan lake, one of 30 created by landslides touched off by the earthquake.
Engineers were due to start draining the lake yesterday, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which said the army had been able to abandon back-up plans to use dynamite to blast away debris and relieve pressure on the river feeding into the lake.
The official death toll from the May 12th quake rose slightly yesterday to 69,016, with 18,830 still missing in remote parts of the mountainous province.
More than 15 million people have been evacuated from the areas hit by the 7.9-magnitude quake, the government said.
Ten earthquake survivors were on board a military helicopter that crashed in foggy conditions on Saturday near Yingxiu, close to the epicentre of the quake.
A search-and-rescue mission was under way for the helicopter, which had a crew of four, Xinhua said.
In Yingxiu itself, the sound of explosions set by army engineers reverberated yesterday down the steep-sided valley cradling the town. "They're blasting to clear the remaining buildings. They're all too dangerous," said a volunteer, Jue Xiaoping. "Once they've blasted, we can clear away the rubble and they'll put up new buildings."
Most of the town's surviving residents have been relocated to tent villages. Only a few remain, picking through the ruins.
About 40 km (25 miles) down the valley in Dujiangyan, some 200 parents and relatives of pupils killed in the quake gathered for a Children's Day commemoration in the rubble-strewn grounds of what used to be Xinjian primary school.
Thousands of children died in the earthquake when their schools crumpled like packs of cards, arousing suspicions among parents that building standards had been flouted because of corruption.
- (Reuters)