China Braces for Heavy Rains In Quake-Damaged Regions
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CHENGDU, China — Earthquake-ravaged sections of China’s devastated Sichuan province braced yesterday for heavy rainstorms that could trigger new landslides, one day after officials reportedly finished evacuating 110,000 people from the area.
Rain began falling in the evening and thunderstorms were forecast for today through Sunday, according to the provincial weather bureau. This month marks the start of the annual rainy season, which routinely leads to flooding in rivers in provinces downstream.
Landslides are a particular concern because the May 12 earthquake caused steep hillsides to shear away and crash into river valleys below. Many slopes remain unstable and are at high risk of being washed away.
Authorities have evacuated 110,000 people since Sunday from mountain districts near the epicenter of the magnitude-7.9 quake, which killed nearly 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The government has already ordered many survivors to move several times because of potential danger from damaged homes, aftershocks, and flooding from “quake lakes” that formed when huge piles of debris blocked rivers.
Conditions in camps in the hard-hit county of Wenchuan were dismal due to overcrowding, a county government official reached by telephone said.
In related news, Secretary of State Rice plans to visit the earthquake-devastated region in China later this month, the State Department said yesterday.
Ms. Rice, who would become the highest-level American official to tour the area, plans to meet with Chinese government officials and representatives of aid organizations in the quake-damaged city of Chengdu, a department spokesman, Tom Casey, said.