Race against time to repair dams cracked by earthquake
Ambassador arrives as fears for safety of British holidaymakers increase
Published:
Chinese authorities were last night fighting to plug dangerous cracks in dams near the epicentre of Monday’s earthquake.
China’s top economic planning body said yesterday that the earthquake had damaged 391 dams.
And the UK ambassador flew into the quake-hit province of Sichuan yesterday to help the search for missing Britons.
China’s government pronounced the Zipingpu Reservoir dam safe after thousands of troops had been rushed in to repair it.
It stands upstream from Dujiangyan, which was near the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake.
The dam was put into service in 2006, and inter- national environmental activists had earlier warned of the risk of earthquakes from nearby fault lines.
The death toll from the quake may already top 50,000. Official figures put it at 15,000 with 26,000 still buried in rubble and 14,000 missing in Sichuan alone.
Sichuan is home to other major dam projects, including the massive Three Gorges dam, the world’s largest about 350 miles to the east of the epicentre, but officials said it escaped undamaged.
He Biao, director of disaster relief in Sichuan, said there were also concerns over dams closer to the epicentre.
“There are serious problems with the Tulong Reservoir on the Min River. It may collapse. If that happens, it would affect several power plants below and be extremely dangerous.”
Elsewhere as help began to arrive in some of the hardest-to-reach areas, some victims trapped for more than two days under buildings were still being pulled out alive.
But the enormous scale of the devastation meant resources were stretched thin, and makeshift aid stations and refugee centres were springing up over a disaster area the size of Belgium.
The toll is expected to rise once rescuers reach other towns in Wenchuan that remain cut off. Roads leading there from all directions are still being cleared of debris.
Pupils were taking a noon nap at a three-storey school in Sichuan when the quake demolished it, leaving 178 children confirmed dead and another 23 remained missing.
In Beichuan, a three-year-old girl trapped over 40 hours under the bodies of her parents was pulled to safety.
Rescuers found Song Xinyi on Tuesday but were unable to extricate her immediately due to fears the debris above her would collapse.
She was fed and shielded from the rain until rescuers pulled her from the rubble.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao toured the disaster area to reassure the public about the government’s response and to show the world China is ready to host the Beijing Olympics in August.
UK ambassador Sir William Ehrman flew into the provincial capital of Chengdu yesterday to help co-ordinate the search for missing British nationals.
A five-member rapid-response team and a consular team is already in Chengdu, and Britain’s Foreign Office said it was working round the clock to track down “a number” of British citizens who remain out of contact.
Among those unaccounted for are 19 at Wolong panda reserve, in Wenchuan.
The Travel Collection group included retired couple David and Diane Atkins, from Hampshire.
Their daughter, Lisa Staples, said she feared for their lives as her father took blood pressure tablets.
She said: “My mum and dad will know I am being freaked out by this and they should phone in and they haven’t. I am trying really hard to keep busy and not panic.”
Twelve Americans on a trip to the reserve managed to borrow a satellite phone briefly to let the outside world know they were safe.
But a WWF spokesman said there were no other communications functioning at Wolong.
British experts from the International Rescue Corps have arrived in Hong Kong and are awaiting visas before travelling to the region.
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