Thousands threatened by breached reservoir in northwest China

BEIJING (AFP) Jan 22, 2004
A breached reservoir spewed out water in northwest China on Thursday, endangering thousands of trapped residents who, unable to evacuate, were left praying the reservoir would hold, state media said.

More than 1,000 soldiers were struggling in minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) to plug the hole in the No. 81 Reservoir in the largely Muslim Xinjiang region, Xinhua news agency said.

Close to 20,000 people were affected by the breach in the dyke, Xinhua reported.

Of these, only about 7,500 had managed to leave the area because of a lack of available transportation, even after local officials dispatched 80 buses for the purpose, Xinhua said.

The rest were hoping that the reservoir would not burst entirely, releasing 25 million cubic meters (830 million cubic feet) of water.

The soldiers were laboring without heavy equipment to dig up soil to fill the hole, an almost impossible task in the freezing conditions.

TERRA.WIRE