Earthquakes News

 Given their relatively short lifetimes to date, modern dams remain generally untested against real-world seismic activity. A report from the International Commission On Large Dams considers the lessons learned from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.  read more »

Chinese authorities are drawing up a national natural disaster "risk map" in a bid to improve planning of urban construction projects in western China to avoid potential catastrophes.  read more »

Reports in China’s state-run media are blaming heavy rains for the massive landslide this week that swept 23 dam construction workers to their death and blocked a river in China’s south west region. But Fan Xiao, Chief engineer of the Regional Geology Investigation Team of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau, says the likely trigger was dam construction along a tributary of the Dadu River.  read more »

An article about Yong Yang, a rabble-rousing independent geologist who has previously faced death threats from businessmen and local officials for raising concerns about the feasibility of lucrative proposed projects.   read more »

Chinese police have seized a farmer who doused himself in gasoline and threatened to blow himself up to stop the demolition of his house, in the latest showdown over the controversial Pubugou hydropower project.  read more »

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have begun demolishing houses and forcing people from their homes near the Pubugou hydroelectic power project, which is due to go into operation soon. Chinese geological expert says the dam will increase the risk of devastating earthquakes.  read more »

Until the deadly Wenchuan earthquake in China in 2008, no large concrete face rockfill dam (CFRD) had ever been subject to a strong, ground shaking earthquake. But that changed on May 12, 2008 when the Zipingpu hydro dam, one of the largest CFRDs in China and sitting just 17 km from the earthquake epicenter, suffered higher than anticipated seismic forces, causing major damage to its concrete face and deflecting the giant structure 180 mm downstream. A leading scientist now says the earthquake should act as a wake up call for dam builders.  read more »

Fears of a potential collapse of the Changu dam, once again, highlight the problems of constructing dams in seismically active regions—especially so in China, where the quality of dams has been questioned.  read more »

More scientists are joining the debate over whether China's Wenchuan May 2008 earthquake was triggered by the Zipingpu dam. A recent report by Chinese experts insists that the dam can now be ruled out as a trigger in the disaster, saying it was so unlike the four largest reservoir-induced seismicity (RIS) events on record, that there can be no connection between the Zipingpu dam and the quake. A follow-up report by Science magazine says otherwise.  read more »

Peter Bosshard, policy director of International Rivers, provides a nice overview of the controversy surrounding the Zipingpu dam.  read more »