Due to the recent torrential rain in central Taiwan, worried government officials yesterday emphasized the strategies they are taking to prevent potential disasters if so-called "barrier lakes" formed after last year's 921 earthquake burst their banks.
The barrier lakes, formed by falling earth and rocks that created dams in valleys, are intrinsically unstable and all the more likely to burst in the current heavy rains, experts say.
Backed-up waters at two barrier lakes near Chiufenerh Mountain (
Officials have already evacuated more than 100 residents living in Nankang village (
Residents said that they are seriously worried about the possibility that the two reservoirs could burst.
"We've found streams welling up from under the ground, but we don't know their source," said Lin Tung-han (
To figure out exactly where these streams come from, government officials from the Council of Agriculture's (COA) Soil and Water Conservation Bureau (
COA officials said that only a portion of the accumulated water had flowed into a 700-meter-long temporary drainage pipe built last year. However, they insisted things were still under control.
"It's very hard to anticipate how harmful a breech can be. It depends on the rainfall. But we are continuing to monitor the water mark in order to give the alarm [if necessary]," said the bureau's director-general, Chen Chih-ching (
Engineers estimated that one of the lakes in the upper reaches of Chiutsaihu River (
Another lake, located on Shetzu River (
Environmental experts warned that the underground streams are a sign that accumulated water has permeated the earth's surface and found a way to pass beneath the temporary dams, possibly undercutting their foundations in the process.
Such phenomena indicate "a large-scale landslide could occur any time," warned Tuan Chin-hao (段錦浩), a water resource professor at National Chung-hsing University.
Nantou County is not the only area threatened by unstable barrier lakes during the rainy season.
In Yunlin County, Tsaoling (
Wang Chih-kang (
Ironically, Wang was greeted by the sight of tourist yachts sailing on the lake, despite the fact it is seen by some experts as a "virtual time bomb."
"I believe that no imminent danger exists here because we've built several drainage pipes. However, for the sake of safety, I would advise travel agents not to encourage tourism here," said Wang.
Barrier lakes formed by the 921 earthquake were not cleared for several reasons -- among them the high cost of their removal.
After field inspections last October, foreign geologists and seismological engineering experts urged the central government to take immediate action concerning the barrier lakes.
They pointed out that soil on mountains near barrier lakes was vulnerable to slippage because of deforestation, and that this has made the threat of landslides even more likely during the typhoon season.
However, local governmental officials responded to the threats by simply dumping earth and rocks into the lakes, assuming that this could stave off potential mudflows.
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