BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities in Tibet have detected problems, including cracks, at five out of 14 hydropower dams that they have inspected since a magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked the southwest region last week, an emergency official said on Thursday.
Of the five affected dams, three have since been emptied, the Tibet emergency management official told a press conference.
In the county of Tingri, the quake’s epicentre, the walls of one hydrodam have tilted, prompting the evacuation of about 1,500 people from six villages downstream to higher ground, he said.
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At another hydrodam, monitoring devices have been installed as it is being drained.
The earthquake, which has killed at least 126 people and injured hundreds, was a reminder of the risks from a hydropower building spree by China and India in one of the world’s most remote, quake-prone regions.
Earthquakes have damaged dams in the past, particularly by setting off landslides and rockfalls. A massive earthquake in Nepal in 2015 shuttered almost a fifth of its hydropower for more than a year.
The Jan. 7 quake in Tibet, the fifth-deadliest in China since the 2008 Sichuan temblor, destroyed more than 3,600 houses and damaged religious structures, with aftershocks of up to 5.0 in magnitude still shaking the area.
Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are often hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Tingri, which sits atop the zone where the Indian plate pushes under Tibet, is particularly vulnerable.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Editing by David Goodman and Angus MacSwan)
