Although Fan Xiao insisted that evidence linking the Zipingpu Dam and the Wenchuan earthquake has strengthened over the past months, he acknowledged that a firm conclusion was premature.

"The clustered moderate earthquakes near the Zipingpu Dam before the Wenchuan earthquake Lei mentioned in his paper might also just be the pre-shocks of the May 12 earthquake," he admitted.

Ji said, "There are 6,678 reservoirs in the Sichuan province, and the Zipingpu is not the largest one."

For instance, the 240-meter-high Ertan Dam built in 1999 on the Yalongjiang River has a total storage capacity of 5.8 billion cubic meters; the 132-meter-high Baozhusi Dam has a total storage capacity of 2.6 billion cubic meters.

"All those dams have never induced a destructive earthquake measuring above six degrees on the Richter scale, not to mention an 8.0-magnitude one like the Wenchuan quake," Ji said. Enditem

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2009)