OPINION> Commentary
Battle against floods
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-29 13:28

While a lot of human and financial resources have been mobilized to alleviate quake survivors' sufferings, the 2,385 reservoirs that have been damaged by the tremor are a grim reminder that something must be urgently done to guard against possible floods along the country's major rivers.

The rainy season is coming, and the relatively concentrated precipitation is very likely to raise water level in the Yangtze River and its tributaries in southern parts of the country.

Worse still, almost all the reservoirs that have been damaged are in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River, where heavy rains or even rainstorms are very likely be frequent in the coming months.

Of all the damaged reservoirs, the dams of 69 are in potential danger of collapsing. Although the degree of damage to the rest of the reservoirs is not as serious, they could also cause trouble in case of continuous heavy rains.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Water Resources has dispatched 18 expert teams to conduct on-the-spot investigations to help make emergency plans in case some of them burst and to work out schemes for repairing the damaged dams.

Even when the dams of these reservoirs were in sound conditions, it was not rare for rapidly rising river water to breach river banks or reservoir dams and cause losses of both lives and properties.

So the flood control situation is particularly serious this year.

Within Chongqing municipality alone, a city in the immediate upper reaches of the Three Gorges Dam, more than 300 reservoirs were damaged in different degrees by the tremor.

Round-the-clock inspections have been organized in the area.

To keep all the damaged reservoirs safe during the rainy season should be as important as the quake disaster relief and reconstruction. All of them must be repaired and strengthened well on time.

Not only the localities with damaged reservoirs, other parts of the country too need to do a better job in flood prevention before the rainy season. This is also a way to support the disaster relief and reconstruction in quake-affected areas.

(China Daily 05/29/2008 page8)