By Lucy Hornby
CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - The onset of the rainy season isswelling dangerous "quake lakes" and compounding thedifficulties of reconstruction after China's worst earthquakein decades.
The 7.9 magnitude tremor of May 12 and thousands ofaftershocks changed the landscape of northern Sichuan provinceforever, blocking rivers, weakening mountain walls and creatingunstable lakes where there was once dry land.
The death toll had topped 55,000, with almost 25,000missing and more than 281,000 injured, Sichuan vice governor LiChengyun said on Friday as fears grew that disease, rain andaftershocks could bring yet more disaster to the southwesternprovince.
A landslide triggered by an aftershock in Wenchuan county,at the epicentre, on Thursday crushed a house, killing twopeople, state media said on Friday.
Premier Wen Jiabao, making his second visit to the disasterzone, visited hospitals and tents sheltering quake refugees onFriday in Beichuan county, one of the worst-hit areas.
In a temporary shelter for the Beichuan Middle School,which lost up to 1,000 students and teachers in the quake, Wentried to cheer up children, writing a line on the blackboardreading "Deep distress resurrects a nation".
Wen, a trained geologist, had earlier ordered rescueworkers to eliminate the danger of the lakes "throughengineering means" while swiftly evacuating people in theirpath.
In Hongguang, in northeastern Sichuan, the earthquakecaused both sides of a valley to slide, burying three villagesand 900 people. The Qingzhu River is trapped behind.
"The mountains merged," said Gao Xiao, who barely escaped alandslide that roared past her house.
The Qingzhu landslides have formed five lakes, the biggestof which is almost 30 metres (98 feet) deep. A flood controlteam monitors the natural dams constantly, for fear they willburst and unleash a wall of water on the valley below.
"It's a lucky thing we haven't had a downpour recently,"said Lu Lujun, an official with the Guangyuan county propagandadepartment.
But heavy rain is forecast, making life even more difficultfor rescuers, relief workers and the millions either living intents or under makeshift cover as their mourn their dead.
Sichuan has been on high alert for rodent diseases, Xinhuanews agency said, with large amounts of bait spread around theruins.
More than 5,000 health workers have fanned out to disinfectruined villages. Doctors and nurses are stationed round theclock in refugee camps to try to prevent survivors from fallingsick.
(Additional reporting by Guo Shipeng in Beijing; Writing byIan Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Roger Crabb)
