29 September 2008

Grave concerns in the earthquake affected area in Sichuan

Posted by Dave Petley

Reliefweb is this morning carrying a story highlighting grave concerns about the situation in Sichuan in view of recent weather. The article is here. This article appears to have originated from the Jinde charity, who are active in the earthquake affected areas. In a nutshell they are reporting that:

  • Sichuan Province is suffering the most severe rainstorms for a century. They report that since 21st September the city of Jiangyou has received 129.4 mm and in some districts as much as 338.7 mm has fallen [my comment – I am surprised that this is the worst rain in a century to be honest, although the totals are high];
  • This heavy rainfall has caused extensive disruption in the earthquake affected areas;
  • Communications with many affected areas appear to have broken down;
  • The water level in the Tangjiashan Lake was reported to be rising to an alarming level, due to large landslides blocking the overflow channel. Yuli Village near Beichuan is facing the danger of being flooded again.

Clearly the level of information glowing out is limited, but this is consistent with the impacts seen in other areas in the first heavy rainfall event after a large earthquake.