A man weeps in front of a collapsed building in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province yesterday, after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked the region on Monday.[Photo: AFP]

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) has activated its highest emergency response and promised all-out efforts to restore power disrupted by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Sichuan province on Monday.

The quake, whose epicenter was in Wenchuan County, about 100 km from the provincial capital Chengdu, disrupted electricity supply in central and northwestern regions, the SERC said.

It is too soon to assess how seriously the grid has been damaged, but the class-one emergency response - the highest of five levels - activated by SERC President Wang Xudong, signifies the gravity of the situation.

The SERC has ordered generation and transmission companies to determine as quickly as possible the impact on the industry: Workers hurt or killed, and damage to facilities. It has also cautioned all concerned to remain alert to hidden dangers.

The companies have been urged to take "practical and feasible measures" to prevent accidents that could result from quake aftershocks and other forms of earthquake-induced disasters.

Rescue workers who rushed to deal with the emergency should be cautious while working against the clock to restore power supplies, the SERC said.

Executives of power supply companies have been told be "in command on the spot" and "stay on top of the situation".

To secure power supply, the SERC also ordered hydropower plants to monitor dams in quake-hit areas and keep close touch with local governments and flood-control command agencies.

Officials at China Huadian Corporation, a centrally-administered power generator, said it had lost contact with its enterprise in the epicenter, although operations in other quake-ravaged regions had resumed.

Another major power generator, China Guodian Corporation, reported only temporary interruptions in operations in Sichuan. Seven workers injured by stones rolling from a construction site in Dagangshan were hospitalized.

The company said its hydropower plants in Gongzui and the Nanyahe River Valley in Sichuan were operating normally despite strong tremors on Monday afternoon.

State Grid, the country's largest power transmission company serving more than 1 billion people across almost 88 percent of China, has been designated to collect data on damage and repairs to power facilities.

It said that the quake had cut the electrical load in Sichuan by 4 million kilowatts, paralyzing one 500-kv power station and five 220-kv power stations. Plants in western Sichuan including Jiangyou, Jintang, Baozhusi, Maoxian and Dazhou Dongyuan were cut off from the grid.

In Shaanxi province, the electrical load shrank by1.5 million kilowatts on Monday, with two transformer sub-stations and three power generators malfunctioning, it said.

But the trunk power grid was operating smoothly, and the situation had improved overnight, with the lost electrical load recovering, State Grid said.

Emergency equipment and materials were en route by yesterday afternoon, with portable generators already in use in Sichuan and Chongqing, State Grid said.

To determine the damage to power facilities, State Grid emergency teams were making their way on foot to the worst-hit regions of Aba in Sichuan and Longan in Gansu, which have been cut off from telecommunications and transportation networks, they said.

The company also classified railways, telecommunications and hospitals as "crucial users" whose power supply must be secured along with that for residential use to facilitate relief work and ease the suffering of the victims.

As the southern part of Sichuan hit by the quake is likely to be hit by heavy rain and thunderstorms in the next two days, State Grid warned of more problems in power supply.

(China Daily May 14, 2008)