Mass evacuation from 'quake lake' area
28 May 2008
More than 150,000 people living below a lake formed by the Sichuan earthquake have been evacuated, Reuters reported, citing state media. The Tangjiashan lake was created by landslides that blocked the Jianjiang river above the town of Beichuan, which lies near the epicenter of the earthquake. Residents living downstream from the lake were evacuated overnight as engineers dug a diversion channel to prevent flooding. The official death toll from the earthquake was raised on Tuesday to 67,183, with an additional 20,790 reported as still missing. The quake has injured nearly 362,000 people and new aftershocks on Tuesday brought down 420,000 houses.