Shaky ground at Three Gorges

There’s been another landslide near the reservoir of the Three Gorges dam, the latest of many to jolt the mammoth project.

State media says one person was killed and two are missing after earth tumbled down at the entrance of a railway tunnel near Badong.

Like many foreign journalists, I wrote a recent story that suggested the Three Gorges dam may go down in history less as a magnificent feat of engineering than as a folly against the environment. Click here for a Reuters story published in the Sydney Morning Herald, here for The Economist story, here for the New York Times story, and here for the Washington Post story.

Pressure from the rising water has loosened the steep mountainsides along the reservoir, and remaining villagers live in fear that they may slide down the ravine.

Some 1.3 million Chinese have already been relocated, and several million more may find that their homes near the reservoir still aren’t safe.

Update: Xinhua now says the landslide at Badong actually buried a bus, leaving some 30 people missing and presumed dead. The bus company reported the vehicle missing, and it was found in the rubble early Friday, Nov. 23. Click here for a dramatic photo and the story.

Comments

[nanheyangrouchuan]

China's leaders and all of the engineers and scientists knew this, but the ideology of The Party prevailed and now little can be done. The question is, will Beijing move another 2-3 million away from the reservoir or act like nothing bad is happening (until a landslide happens where the dam is anchored)?

[A B]

It is regrettable that the Three Gorges Dam has created such a controversy. Had it been built in the 1930s (around the same time as the Hoover Dam), there would have been far fewer 'opinions'.

Few large Dam projects since then have come through without some controversy. e.g. the Aswan high dam, James Bay, etc. The reality is, opposition peters out after a decade or two.

The hard truth is that only about 25% of China's hydroelectric potential is tapped, and there is not much choice but to tap it to 75% or more in the near future to meet the demand for relatively clean, low greenhouse gas emitting sources of electricity.

If China had a good relationship with Russia, there is the potential for cooperation in the development of Siberian hydroelectric power, and perhaps even the sale of water from diverting streams that now flow into the Arctic.

China has the money and the need for electricity and water, the question is whether Russia and China can put aside their differences and get busy trying to bake a bigger pie.

[nanheyangrouchuan]

Why would the Russians do such damage to Siberia for the benefit of China when they won't build an oil or gas pipeline to China?

Russia already knows that China covets Siberia and claims it as "lost territory", that is why Russia won't do military JVs with China (but will do them with India), stopped selling RD-93 jet engines to China and even took away Shell Oil's Sakahlin Island shares after Shell promised China a percentage of its oil and gas extraction.

[brucesilly]

Altough this programme has some disadvantages ,just like what you have mentioned that people who live the gorge may feel dangerous ,this programme is still a n very important thing to China,it is not only because we want to create a new history,actually it has more advantages than the disadvantages.
If the programme is completely built, it can reduce flood because it can save a lot of water.we also can use the programme to produce a lot of electricity to slove the problems which were created by the large numbers of population. And also the boat can go easily across Chongqing to south east and to west east, it is important to boom the economy.The water can also use to safe the crop if there is no rain in somewhere.
When the emperor of Qing dynasty built the great wall, so many people died beacuse of it , but actually the great wall is very useful to protect the army in the old days, and now it beacomes one os the most famous construction in the world. I believe that the three gorge programme will show its function to the world soon. But I think to make sure that the peolpe are safe is also important. So maybe the government can help them to find new homes. But there is no reason to stop this programme.