I recall a Nat Geo special on that damn that engineers were concerned that the massive water weight backed up by that damn could cause earthquakes in the area, however I haven't seen a sniff of a report that it may be related.
Makes me wonder if a CYA operation is in effect.
That being said, I agree that the chinese government is pathetic where human rights are concerned but I sympathise with the people who are put in danger by that government.
The 3 Gorges catchment is definitely heavy enough to cause earthquakes in its own right, but they would be local faults. It’s not going to cause earthquakes hundreds of miles away. I guess this was a tectonic event, not weight faulting from 3 Gorges.
Hmm, the Zipingpu dam is apparently holding back 1.112 billion cubic meters of water. That’s about 1 cubic meter of freezing water for every person in China. Strewth.