Following the US rescue team, which arrived in Taiwan last Wednesday, dam construction experts from the US Army Corps Engineers (USACE, 美國陸軍工兵團) arrived in Taiwan yesterday morning for a three-day comprehensive investigation of dams damaged during last week's devastating quake.
Accompanied by officials from the Water Resources Bureau (WRB,
WRB officials said yesterday that they had inspected dams located near the epicenter of last Tuesday's quake with the US team, including Tehchi (
PHOTO: AP
"The five-member US team will contribute valuable advice on repairing the dams, which will be essential for dam safety in the future," said Lee Tieh-min (
Officials said that the 22-year-old Shihkang Dam, which used to supply water to two million people in the Taichung metropolitan area, was partially destroyed during last Tuesday's quake and its severe aftershocks and could no longer store water. Its four water gates and three spillways collapsed when the quake destroyed part of the superstructure, which also sank more than 10 meters. There are also many obvious cracks in the dam's foundation.
In two reservoirs near Sun Moon Lake, Shuishe Reservoir (
WRB officials said yesterday that they also had kept an eye on many newly built reservoirs in mountain areas in the earthquake zone because landslides had blocked off rivers.
It was reported that people in central Taiwan were worried by one of these reservoirs, called the New Tsaoling Reservoir (新草嶺潭) in Yunlin County. However, according to officials from the MOEA's Water Resources Department (WRD, 水利處) who investigated the reservoir yesterday, people were not in any immediate danger.
"We have not reached a decision on whether to dredge the rivers or not. However, we will include opinions from the US experts in our assessment after we process another field investigation later this week," said Hsieh Hsi-chin (謝錫欽), deputy director of the WRD's Fourth River Bureau.
Hsieh said that observation meters had been placed by reservoirs to provide constantly updated information.
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