China's Unending Quake Nightmare

Even though the massive Chinese earthquake occurred nearly a month ago on May 12, the Chinese people in the Sichuan region are living with the dangerous after effects that are just as frightening.

There are dozens of rivers that had been dammed by debris and mudslides, many of which threaten hundreds of thousands of people living downstream. One in particular was blasted by the Chinese military to relieve the strain and reduce the possibility that the dam would burst sending torrents downstream without warning.

This particular effort flooded part of a ruined city, sweeping all manner of debris into the surging muddy torrent. All that debris is going to end up somewhere, and when it does finally settle, it could result in severely damaged river habitat, affect drinking water, and the navigability of the river.

The Chinese military had been concerned that the dam would simply give way, creating a wall of water crashing through the valley below where some 250,0000 people have been evacuated to safer ground. The authorities have said that if the dam breaks, up to a million people could find themselves in the path of flood waters.

Television footage showed a surge of muddy water sweeping trees and vehicles before it as it flowed through lower-lying parts of Beichuan in a broad loop, spilling into side streets.

Chinese authorities have told former residents of Beichuan that the town will be abandoned and rebuilt elsewhere. It was one of the worst hit in the quake and some 15,000 people died there. Many of its buildings were wrecked or damaged. The overall official death toll from the earthquake — the worst in a generation — was almost 70,000.

Witnesses downstream from Beichuan said the water flowing from the dam had turned into a broad, fast-flowing stream hundreds of yards wide at Mianyang, which is home to some of those evacuated from Beichuan.

Chinese authorities insisted that the situation had not slipped out of control, Reuters reported from the region.

“The flow downstream has increased dramatically, but the dam hasn’t collapsed,” Zhou Hua, spokesman for the lake relief operation, told Reuters. “The channel has widened but this isn’t a collapse. “So far everything is happening within expectations. As things are, we don’t expect to have to evacuate any more.”

But many former residents took the torrent as the final confirmation that they would never return to homes, stores and other businesses.

While the need for evacuations has been lessened, the problems will continue in China for some time to come.

UPDATE:
5 million homeless, and the hits will keep on coming.