United Kingdom | Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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China braces for possible lake bursts

By Chris Buckley
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Posted 17 May 2008 @ 10:49 pm GMT

The Lianhehua dam, built in the late 1950s northwest of Dujiangyan, showed cracks big enough to put a fist in.

"When the dam is in this shape, we cannot feel relaxed," said farmer Feng Binggui who has moved from his village below the dam into the hills.

China is also on precautionary alert against possible radiation leaks, according to a government website.

China's chief nuclear weapons research lab is in Mianyang, along with several secret atomic sites, but there are no nuclear power stations.

China has sent 130,000 troops to the disaster area, but roads buckled by the quake and blocked by landslides have made it hard for supplies and rescuers to reach the worst-hit areas.

Offers of help have flooded in and foreign rescue teams from Japan, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have arrived.

(Additional reporting by John Ruwitch in Mianyang, Nick Macfie in Beijing and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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