2 Large Quakes, Weakened Dams Threaten City in China

Quake-Damaged Reservoirs Threaten China City

Saturday, October 25, 2003 11:11 p.m. ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese workers, heading off a possible disaster in the northwestern Silk Road city of Zhangye, opened reservoir sluice gates on Sunday after earthquakes cracked the embankments, officials said.

Two quakes measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the Richter scale rocked the province of Gansu on Saturday, killing four people and injuring eight, the officials and state media said on Sunday. The quakes jolted Minle and Shandan counties, near Zhangye, at 8:41 p.m. and 8:48 p.m. local time, destroying or damaging at least 3,000 houses, a seismological official told Reuters from Zhangye.

In the village of Yaozhaizi, Minle county, 90 percent of buildings had collapsed, he said.

"The widest crack is five cm (two inches), the official said, describing the dam embankments. "We were forced to open the sluice gates and let the water go, otherwise people in the city would be in danger."

Zhangye, with a population of 1.2 million, sits aside the Silk Road, which for centuries was the path of merchants between Europe and China, and is a popular tourist destination.

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