China plans mass exodus from quake zone

MIANYANG, China (CNN) -- Authorities are expanding plans to evacuate people in southwestern China as water piles up behind a dam created by an earthquake landslide, state-run media reported Friday.

An additional 40,000 people in Beichuan county have been ordered toleave at-risk areas downstream from the so-called quake lake, bringingthe total to nearly 200,000.

A report that China had ordered theevacuation of 1.3 million people, however, turned out not to be true.That report appeared Friday in the English-language version of China'sstate-run news agency, Xinhua, but its reference to the evacuation ofthat many people apparently was the result of a poor translation.

The Chinese authorities say they actually are planning a drill to makesure they are prepared in case they have to evacuate 1.3 millionpeople. That's an estimate of the number of people who could beevacuated if the dam breaks completely.

The May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province triggered a landslide that blocked Jianjiang River and created Tangjiashan Lake.