A big aftershock rattled southwest China yesterday, killing at least one person and injuring 400, state media reported, nearly a fortnight after a big quake killed tens of thousands in the same area.
More than 70,000 houses were toppled during yesterday’s tremor in Sichuan Province, state TV reported. The 5.8 magnitude aftershock was epicentered 40km west-northwest of Guangyuan, the US Geological Survey said.
At the same time hundreds of troops carrying explosives were trekking through the area, attempting to reach a “quake lake” that threatened a secondary disaster.
PHOTO: AFP
Concerned by a rise in the water level of a giant lake at Tangjiashan, authorities have been seeking to blast a hole in the barrier before it bursts and causes a flashflood. Thousands have been evacuated below the lake as a precaution.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), who believes the overall death toll from the main quake could exceed 80,000, has said the main concerns are now secondary disasters like flooding and landslides, epidemics and providing shelter for the millions of displaced.
State TV earlier reported that an 80-year-old partially paralyzed man was the longest known survivor to date. He was pulled alive from the rubble on Friday, 266 hours after the 7.9 magnitude quake hit.
The man was rescued in Mianzhu City, where he had been trapped under a collapsed pillar of his house. He had survived after being fed by his wife, the TV report said.
The biggest concern among the dozens of quake lakes is the one at Tangjiashan, which rose 1.93m yesterday to 723m, Xinhua said.
“The relief work for Tangjiashan quake lake is now at critical stage,” Vice Minister of Water Resource E Jingping (鄂竟平) told a news conference in Beijing.
“The daunting difficulty in treating a quake lake is its unpredictability — its formation and when it could burst,” he said.
But a military expert near the wrecked town of Beichuan said the lake did not pose an immediate threat.
“This is a precautionary step in case there is rain over the coming days. The dam is far from overflowing yet, but we need to release water in case the predicted rains come,” said the People’s Liberation Army officer, surnamed Liu.
Forecasts of rain added to worries yesterday about relief efforts to house the millions of people left homeless by the earthquake.
The government warned that heavy rain was on the way, possibly hampering work to get temporary shelters up to house the estimated 5 million who lost their homes in Sichuan Province.
The State Meteorological Bureau said yesterday that parts of Sichuan would suffer “heavy and even in some areas torrential rains” later yesterday and today.
The bureau warned of “possible mudslides” caused by the heavy rain.
Rescuers were also trying to reach 24 coal miners who officials said were trapped in three mines by the disaster, though they didn’t know if the miners were alive.
Xinhua news agency said that China’s customs office had streamlined entry procedures for relief materials and rescue personnel. It said that on Saturday 47 batches of overseas relief materials, including tents and medicine had arrived in quake-hit areas. Aid is being sent by large and small countries.
Also See: Games organizers shorten torch’s trip through Tibet
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA