Chinese evacuate almost 200,000 from quake lake area
The earthquake in China has formed a lake which is now threatening to burst
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Saturday, 31, May 2008 07:42
Chinese state media has reported almost 200,000 people have been evacuated from Sichuan Province on Saturday over fears a quake-formed lake may burst.
The forced evacuation is part of an emergency plan to prevent another tragedy following the May 12th quake, which caused thousands of tonnes of rubble to form a natural dam on the Tangjiashan river, creating the lake.
State media agency Xinhua said a total of 197,477 people were evacuated from Mianyang City to safe ground on Saturday.
Officials want to remove 200,000 people from the area by Sunday morning as soldiers work around the clock to drain the lake.
Xinhua said two other plans require the relocation of 1.2 million people if half of the lake volume was released, or 1.3 million if the barrier of the quake lake fully opened.
The Tangjiashan quake lake was the biggest of more than 30 created by landslides following the 7.9-magnitude earthquake.
At least 68,858 people have been killed by the quake, which had its epicentre in Wenchuan, north-west of provincial capital Chengdu, while a further 18,618 people are missing and close to a million homes have been destroyed.