Xinhua
Dujiangyan (China), May 18 (Xinhua) A barrier lake, which was formed by the blocking of a river following the quake in Sichuan province burst but no casualty has been reported, disaster relief officials said late Saturday. The lake formed in the upper reaches of the Jianjiang River in Pengzhou city with a volume of 1.6 million cubic meters burst Saturday afternoon, according to the quake relief headquarters.

The lake-burst did not cause any casualties as the people in the downstream had been evacuated in time, the officials said, adding that a reservoir downstream was also discharged water in advance so as to receive the water from the lake.

Many barrier lakes formed after Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake caused landslides, which blocked rivers at several places.

Experts were also closely monitoring another barrier lake in Beihcuan County. The lake was threatening the regions downstream.

There had been no burst of reservoirs in the quake-hit areas, the headquarters’ team in charge of water facilities assured.

Liu Ning, engineer-in-chief at the ministry of water resources, told Xinhua Saturday that some water facility projects, such as reservoirs and hydroelectric stations suffered damages following the quake.

To prevent new disasters, the ministry had dispatched 25 work teams to check affected reservoirs, Liu added.

The disaster relief headquarter said at least 7,227 people have died in Beichuan after the earthquake. Some 5,894 people are still missing.

Meanwhile, at the Hongguang Township in Qingchuan County, authorities have evacuated some 2,000 people downstream of the Qingzhu River amid fears of flooding.
Xinhua