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Aftershock jolts lake dam

— Photo: Xinhua

Under watch: The sluice channel at the Tangjiashan quake-formed lake in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday.

MIANYANG (Sichuan): A strong aftershock was felt at the dam of Tangjiashan quake lake on Monday. The tremor sent rocks rolling down the surrounding mountains and splashed into the quake-formed Tangjiashan Lake in Mianyang City, one of the hardest-hit areas in the May 12 earthquake.

The administration has not defined the magnitude of the aftershock and its impact on the dam is under surveillance. More than 100 soldiers of the hydropower force of the armed police continued digging for a spillway at the bottom of the lake’s dam. The new spillway would hopefully be connected with a drainage channel that has been operating since Saturday morning to accelerate drainage.

China is still on the alert as the water level in Tangjiashan Lake rose by 0.92 metres in 24 hours. Military engineers have fired short-range missiles to blast boulders in the channel to accelerate drainage. — Xinhua

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