Troops race against time to blast river block in China

Chinese soldiers using massive earth-moving equipment prepared to blast away part of a landslide today to ease the flooding threat from a river blocked up by the huge earthquake.

The Tangjiashan lake in northern Sichuan province is one of dozens of fragile dams created by landslides during the earthquake that pose a new destructive threat in the disaster zone.

Soldiers had been hauling explosives through the mountains to reach the area, and the official 'Chinese Daily' said on its website that they were “preparing to dynamite the barrier”.

Thousands of people have already been evacuated downstream from the lake that is swelling behind the landslide near Beichuan, one of the towns hit hardest by the May 12 tremor that devastated Sichuan.

The number of deaths from the quake has climbed further toward an expected toll of 80,000 or more. The Cabinet says 65,080 people were confirmed killed, and 23,150 people were still missing.

About 1,800 soldiers clambered up mountain paths to reach Tangjiashan with plans to blast through the debris and drain the water, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

It did not say when the blasting operation would take place.

Helicopters flew heavy earth-moving machines to the lake region on Monday, after bad weather initially kept the aircraft on the ground, Xinhua said.

The Tangjiashan lake is one of dozens caused when the magnitude 7.9 quake sent millions of tons of earth and rock tumbling into some of the region’s narrow valleys. Some rising floodwaters have already swallowed villages.

Tangjiashan now holds 34 billion gallons of water, said Liu Ningzheng, chief engineer of the Water Resources Ministry,

China Daily said 600 engineers and soldiers worked through the night at the lake.

Pressure is building behind the dams as rivers and streams feed into the newly formed lakes. Officials fear the loose soil and debris walls of the dams could crumble easily, especially once the water level reaches the top and begins cascading over.

Adding to the threat, thunderstorms were forecast for parts of Sichuan this week – a foretaste of the coming summer rainy season that accounts for more than 70% of the 2ft of rain that falls on the area each year.

The China Meteorological Administration said the storms “could increase the risks posed by river blockages in some quake-hit areas”.