Posted on 05/25/2008 7:44:51 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Cracks run on the top of a dam in Wenchuan, China's southwest Sichuan Province May 20, 2008.
CHENGDU, China – Nearly 70 dams scarred by the force of China's most powerful earthquake in three decades were in danger of bursting, the government said Sunday, while looming rains added to worries about relief efforts for millions of homeless survivors.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 62,664, with another 23,775 people missing, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said. Premier Wen Jiabao has said the number of dead could surpass 80,000.
A magnitude 5.8 aftershock rattled the quake area Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey said, causing office towers to sway in Beijing, some 1,300 kilometres away. There was no immediate information on any new damage caused.
State television reported Sunday that a survivor was rescued alive Friday, more than 11 days after the earthquake hit.
Xiao Zhihu, an 80-year-old bedridden man, was rescued in Mianzhu north of the provincial capital Chengdu after being trapped in his collapsed house, the report said. He survived because his wife was able to get food to him through the rubble, but there were no further details given or a reason for the two-day delay in reporting the rescue.
The Water Resources Ministry said in a statement Sunday that 69 dams in central Sichuan province were in danger of collapse, without giving any further details.
The government had earlier said some 391 dams had been affected by the quake, mostly small structures.
Sichuan is home to the world's largest water project, the Three Gorges dam located about 560 kilometres east of the epicentre, which authorities have said was not damaged in the quake.
Meanwhile, the State Meteorological Bureau said Sunday that parts of Sichuan would suffer "heavy and even in some areas torrential rains" later Sunday and Monday, warning of possible mudslides.
Some people paused Sunday to attend church almost two weeks after the quake hit. In Chengdu, worshippers gathered at the Ping'an Bridge Catholic church to say prayers for the victims.
A collection plate was also passed around.
One worshipper, retiree Liang Biqing, 58, said the disaster had changed her views on China's place in the world and shown her that people globally all share the same troubles.
"This shows that there are no barriers, no nationalities, when it comes to disasters," she said.
China desperately needs tents to house quake victims, with more than 15 million homes destroyed in the disaster.
The first of eight Russian military transport planes carrying tents, medicine and food landed Sunday in Chengdu, the country's ITAR-Tass news agency said. Other aid flights were to arrive by Monday.
Sri Lanka has also sent tents, clothes and other relief materials, Xinhua said.
These pictures are from Der Spiegel
There goes our cement. We should double the price of our cement and stop buying their products. A perfect time to set them back 100 years in their quest of becoming a world power.
Damned damaged dams!
(sorry, couldn’t resist) =P
IB4TJD
When Sri Lanka is bailing you out, you know you’re in trouble.
It’s quite probable that in order to make the concrete more pumpable too much water was added. Knowing how low-bid contracts have worked in the USA, I’m pretty certain contractors and sub-contractors (as well as Communist Party cadres) on these projects skimped on the quality of concrete, reinforcing and even curing time.
Not too sure if vermiculite can be used in this situation but patching with concrete isn’t going to do too much unless it can cure in a relatively dry environment.
JD?
Lawyer?
Cement is only one component of concrete. Concrete, in general, is relatively inexpensive; that’s why it is used in so much of the world’s construction. It’s the price of deformed (the ones you may have seen with the little ridges) steel reinforcing bar that has really been going up. Epoxy-coated re-bar, which is longer-lasting, is even more so.
Please keep in mind cement can be used as a finish material but it is reinforced concrete that has significant structural tensile and compressive strength.
During a time o war hitting all 70 dams at the same time would just about end a war.
The pictures and facts coming out of China is amazing. That society is changing at an amazing rate.
That next to last one look like a fualt, right down the middle of the dam.
yikes.
Ironically, the Chinese army is showing their stuff; effective and competent...very effective transport infrastructure....the Chinese military is a formidable force.
Has anybody thought about those rumors of the folks that claimed that the building of the Three Gorges dam would put unknown stress on a fault line possibly creating earthquakes?
Irony indeed, a nation that will collapse by its own ideas of expansion.
As I mentioned in my previous post, flowable concrete (not to be confused with cement, which is a binder used in the concrete mix) can have too much water. However, additives can make a low-slump concrete more flowable without too much water. As long as the concrete is properly vibrated once placed, separation of aggregate (usually gravel and sand) shouldn’t be a problem.
Your concern is well-founded; I have seen formwork removed and all the aggregate was sitting at the bottom - there were huge voids in the concrete surface, which meant there was no aggregate in the top of the wall. The consequence of this kind of wall means that there is no material, like gravel, “locking” around the reinforcing bar in the wall. The concrete at the top of such a wall is more likely to crack, allowing moisture in to oxidize (rusting) the re-bar. This in turn leads to spalling of the surface, allowing the smoother, denser exterior finish to expose a more absorbent core, which leads to the ultimate demise of the wall.
During the civil war they called you a carpetbagger. Who would think that someone would be so unashamed as to publicly announce it.
Good one!
What the Chinese nationals find interesting is that the government is talking about what its army is doing. Such public discussion used to be very off limits.
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