Environment

Chinese earthquake 'may have been man-made'

by Rachel Nixon | February 2, 2009 at 10:24 am

398 views | 30 Recommendations | 4 comments

China's devastating Sichuan earthquake that killed 80,000 people in 2008 may have been caused by a nearby hydro-electric dam, according to scientists.

Researchers in the US and China say the weight of the water in the Zipingpu dam could have affected the pressure on the Beichuan fault line just 550 yards away.

The dam, which is 511 feet high and holds 315 millions tonnes of water, is located three miles from the epicentre of the Sichuan quake.

The scientists believe that the pressure from the water in the Zipingpu dam could have set off a series of ruptures that led to the 7.9-magnitude quake.

Fan Xiao, the chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu, said it was "very likely" that the construction and filling of the reservoir in 2004 had led to the disaster.

"There have been many cases in which a water reservoir has triggered an earthquake," said Mr Fan. "This earthquake was very unusual for this area.

There have been no seismic activities greater than a magnitude seven quake along this particular seismic belt before."

There are almost 400 dams of this kind in the earthquake zone.

Mr Fan said the government had been warned of the danger of building so many large-scale projects in a seismically active area, but that the warnings had gone unheeded.

"I not only opposed the construction of Zipingpu, but also the overdevelopment of the reservoirs on Minjiang River. There are ten major reservoirs on the main river, 29 on its tributaries and a lot more smaller-scale reservoirs, all of which block the flow of the entire river, and are very hazardous to the local geology," he said.

The government has denied that its construction projects caused the quake, although some state researchers have called for an investigation.

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mtammas

at 10:30 on February 2nd, 2009

Thank you for posting the excellent story!

Maireid Sullivan

at 20:56 on February 2nd, 2009

Very sad! Thanks for posting this important insight.

gerrypopplestone

at 07:53 on February 28th, 2009

This kind of development is really frightening! Ive just explored the River Water Transfer Scheme which the Chinese are now building, and some say is such a waste of money.