A network of 21 digital earthquake monitoring stations is to be
set up in the Chongqing section of the Three Gorges
Reservoir area by the end of next year, a local earthquake official
said on Tuesday.
Estimated to cost 29.6 million yuan (US$3.7 million), the
stations will monitor seismological activity around the clock, said
Zhang Rong, head of the Earthquake Prevention Office of the
Chongqing Municipal Seismological Bureau.
Construction of the Three Gorges Project, the world's biggest
hydroelectric project, began on the Yangtze River in 1993 and is
expected to be completed in 2008, a year ahead of schedule. The
huge reservoir was filled from June 2003, inundating more than 220
counties in Chongqing and Hubei Province on the river's upper and
middle reaches.
Geological disasters like landslides and mud-rock flows were
common before the construction of the Three Gorges Project,
sparking fears of possible calamities after water storage
began.
The government has invested more than 4 billion yuan (US$482
million) in the prevention and control of geological disasters in
the Three Gorges area.
The stations would provide technical support for security of the
Three Gorges Reservoir and prevent damage caused by earthquakes and
other disasters, Zhang said.
A geographical disaster database for the reservoir area has also
been established and advanced technologies like satellite remote
sensing are being used to monitor the geological situation.
The project, including a 2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high dam
equipped with 26 generators, is expected to produce 84.7 billion
kWh of electricity annually when completed. It is also expected to
control flooding on the Yangtze, fuel industrial growth and upgrade
the shipping industry.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2006)