China hit by earthquake aftershock

A Chinese state news agency reported a “relatively strong” aftershock has rocked a quake-formed lake that has been threatening to burst.

The effect on the Tangjiashan lake was not immediately known.

Xinhua News Agency says the 20-second aftershock this afternoon sent massive landslides tumbling down surrounding mountainsides.

The Tangjiashan lake has the potential of flooding 1 million people in the sprawling disaster zone. About 250,000 people were evacuated in recent days, as soldiers raced to dig a diversion channel to help drain the lake.

Earlier it was reported that soldiers were blowing up wooden houses and other debris today in the lake to speed the flow of water into the diversion channel.

The Tangjiashan lake, created when a landslide dammed the Tongkou River, has become a priority for a government working to head off another catastrophe even as it cares for millions left homeless from the May 12 quake that killed nearly 70,000 people.