Zipingpu Hydropower plant stopped by quake
According to the Sichuan provincial government on Tuesday morning, the Wenchuan earthquake has caused severe cracks in the dam of the Zipingpu Hydropower Station. The plant and associated buildings have collapsed, and some are partly sunk. The whole installation is out of commission.
Located at the junction of Dujiangyan City and Wenchuan County on the upper Minjiang River, the Zipingpu Hydropower Plant was one of the first 10 landmark projects of the Western Development plan. It is also the principal project in the province’s 10th five-year plan. The station was brought into service in 2006.
At 2:28 p.m. on Monday an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale pounded Wenchuan County in the Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Aba, Sichuan Province, leveling some 500,000 homes in the affected areas and leaving at least 9,219 people dead in the eight affected provinces, the Ministry of Civil Affairs confirmed.
(China.org.cn May 13, 2008)
http://www.china.org.cn/china/wenchuan_earthquake/2008-05/13/content_15201601.htm
Villagers evacuated from quake-devastated Beichuan
By Li Xinran 2008-5-13
PEOPLE were evacuated from Beichuan County in Sichuan Province today after rescue workers restored transport links.
From 8:30am, roads were cleared in the county and residents were moved to safer areas.
Many were covered in dust and some were injured in the 7.8-magnitude quake that occurred at 2:28pm yesterday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Armed police soldiers and medical workers escorted the seriously injured out of town via ambulances from Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital, as well as Mianyang City.
Lying in a deep valley with mountains as high as 1,000 meters, Beichuan was linked with the outside world by only one highway across a mountain. The earthquake cut the highway into pieces.
Most of the evacuees were distraught because their relatives and friends may still be buried under the ruble of collapsed buildings.
The temblor has killed at least 9,219 people in Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guizhou and Hubei, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a release issued at 7am.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200805/20080513/article_359399.htm
6.1-magnitude aftershock rocks quake-hit China county
May 13, 2008, 8:25 GMT
Beijing - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook Wenchuan county in south-western China’s Sichuan province on Tuesday afternoon, just 25 hours after a 7.8-magnitude quake killed at least 10,000 people and buried tens of thousands of others in Sichuan.
The epicentre of Tuesday’s quake, which struck at 3:07 pm (0707 GMT) was in almost the same location as Monday’s tremor, the State Seismological Bureau reported.
It followed at least 1,950 other aftershocks and could be felt strongly in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, state media said.
The new quake was likely to further hamper efforts to reach up to 60,000 people who were still unaccounted for and out of contact with authorities in Wenchuan.
Two difficulties to rescue:
1.Natural condition:rainstorm/damaged traffic,rolling stones from the mountain due to the many of aftershocks.More difficult at night,as out of power.
2.many people are affected in this disaster,much rescue teams and goods are needed.
The update NO from radio is 11,921 just now.
"According to the Sichuan provincial government on Tuesday morning, the Wenchuan earthquake has caused severe cracks in the dam of the Zipingpu Hydropower Station. The plant and associated buildings have collapsed, and some are partly sunk. The whole installation is out of commission."