By Chris Buckley
JIANGYOU, China (Reuters) - China declared victory over anunstable "quake lake" on Tuesday as floodwaters were releaseddownstream, where hundreds of thousands had been under threatof a second crisis following last month's earthquake.
Waters poured out of the Tangjiashan quake lake, thelargest of more than 30 formed by the May 12 earthquake inSichuan province, after soldiers blasted away rocks, mud andother rubble blocking its path along a sluice.
The muddy brown water swamped low-lying areas in the nearbywrecked town of Beichuan, washing away corpses, familymementoes and valuables along with the rubble.
The toll from last month's 7.9 magnitude quake stands atnearly 87,000 dead or missing, and millions more have been lefthomeless.
Tuesday's flooding brought more heartache to the displaced.Many said valuables were now lost for good.
"It began flooding early this morning," said shop assistantZhu Yunhui, 37, who lost loved ones in the quake and said shehad kept many tens of thousands of yuan in her home. "Now wecan never go back. This is heartbreaking."
Damage in Beichuan from the tremor was so extensive thatauthorities have decided to rebuild the town at a site dozensof kilometres away and to make the original county seat anearthquake memorial.
Sichuan's Communist Party chief Liu Qibao described thequake lake breakthrough as a "decisive victory" after the waterlevel in the dam fell by more than 20 metres, Xinhua newsagency said.
"... The number of people under threat downstream the lakehave dropped from 1.3 million to less than 50,000," Liu wasquoted as saying.
Water from the Tangjiashan lake, created when landslidestriggered by the quake blocked the flow of the Jianjiang River,has so far prompted the evacuation of more than 250,000residents downstream in case the mud-and-rock dam burst.
"... So far everything is happening within expectations. Asthings are, we don't expect to have to evacuate any more," ZhouHua, spokesman for the lake relief operation, told Reuters.
ROCKETS AT THE READY
More than half of the lake's 250 million cubic metres ofwater had been discharged from the lake as of 10 a.m. Britishtime, flooding some evacuated villages, farmland and roads butcausing no casualties so far, Xinhua said.
Still, PetroChina said it had shut its main fuel pipelinein western China as a precaution against any damage that couldresult from the rush of water.
Trees, cars and fridges were swept away by the torrent.
The army set up rocket launchers at several points alongthe route of the floodwaters to defuse the threat posed to damsand bridges, including a key railway bridge, by any big objectsin the water, state television said.
Xinhua attributed the abrupt increase in water dischargedfrom the lake to "two massive blasts on Monday evening whichbroke through the bottleneck" of a sluice opened by soldiers.
Further downstream near Mianyang, the waterway had widenedto several hundred metres across.
In Jiangyou, a city sandwiched between Beichuan andMianyang, hundreds of locals stood on a ridge above the riverobserving the flow with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity.
But while the river was still a powerful torrent, the waterlevel appeared to be going down.
Rescuers meanwhile found a relief helicopter, carrying 19quake survivors, medical workers and crew, that crashed nearthe epicentre of the quake on May 31. There were no survivors.
Authorities also confirmed the death of Mao Mao, anine-year-old female giant panda, in the famous breeding centreat the Wolong reserve, near the quake's epicentre, Xinhua said.
Mao Mao was one of six pandas that went missing after thetremor ruined the breeding centre and killed five staffworkers. The other five pandas had been found alive. The centrewill be rebuilt at a new site within the Wolong reserve, Xinhuasaid.
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted Inner Mongolia autonomousregion on Tuesday, while a 5.5-magnitude tremor rocked thenorthwestern province of Qinghai hours later, Xinhua said.There were no immediate reports of casualties.
(Additional reporting Guo Shipeng; Writing by Guo Shipengand Lindsay Beck; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
