Chinese lakes may burst

Aftershock rattles China rescue efforts, and introduce a new danger: floods. A strong aftershock early Sunday rattled areas still reeling from a massive earthquake in China, while fears of flash flooding and landslides hindered rescue efforts as the death toll continued to rise. The flood fears sent thousands of people fleeing in panic Saturday from areas near the epicenter of last week’s devastating earthquake. Chinese officials, meanwhile, said the official death toll from the earthquake had risen to 28,881 people with 198,347 injured. Sunday’s 6.0 magnitude aftershock shook the region near the border of Sichuan and Gansu provinces just after 1 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said in a preliminary report. Thousands of aftershocks have plagued the area since Monday’s deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was over Wenchuan county Sichuan province’s Wenchuan county. There was no immediate information on the impact of the quake.

Just hours earlier, concerns over a damaged dam and rising water levels at two lakes triggered the mass evacuation of 30,000 people — including rescuers and journalists — in at least ten villages and townships, Chinese officials said. People down-river from the quake-damaged Kuzhu dam in Beichuan county were ordered to leave the area Saturday afternoon over fears it might burst, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency. Journalist Diego Laje, one of those ordered to evacuate, said a stampede of thousands of people began as military officers warned them to leave a low-lying area near the river. The two lakes were created when Monday’s quake caused landslides that blocked the Qingjiang River in Qingchuan county. Both bodies of water have fast-rising water levels, prompting concerns of flooding, an official at the Guangyuan disaster relief center said. The higher death toll was announced by central government officials at a Saturday news conference in Beijing. Some 28,300 died in Sichuan province alone, Xinhua reported. The officials confirmed the number of injuries at 198,347. Rescuers, however, continued to pull survivors from beneath the rubble. At least 63 people were saved from Sichuan province on Saturday — 56 of them in Wenchuan county’s Yingxiu township, according to state-run Xinhua.

Monday’s quake was the worst tremor to strike China in three decades; a 1976 earthquake killed more than 250,000 people. More than 4,000 troops were sent to the disaster areas in Wenchuan. In total, 135,000 Chinese troops and medics are involved in the rescue effort across 58 counties and cities, Xinhua reported. The scope of the operation is such that Beijing has allocated nearly $5 billion for the rescue relief fund.