CHINA: China's landmark Three Gorges Dam project aims to benefit the Chinese people, but has also exposed more than a million residents to risks of geological disasters since it first started construction 18 years ago

Record ID: 836602

  • Title: CHINA: China's landmark Three Gorges Dam project aims to benefit the Chinese people, but has also exposed more than a million residents to risks of geological disasters since it first started construction 18 years ago
  • Date: 19th August 2012
  • Summary: YICHANG, HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) THREE GORGES DAM CONSTRUCTION NEXT TO DAM YANGTZE RIVER VARIOUS OF DAM RESERVOIR BUILDINGS ON BANK BADONG, HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 53-YEAR-OLD LOCAL FARMER MA TIANXIN WALKING ON CRACKED FLOOR/CRACKS IN WALL MA FEELING CRACK IN WALL WITH FINGERS MA SITTING IN COURTYARD CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 53-YEAR-OLD LOCAL FARMER MA TIANXIN SAYING: "There hasn't been any compensation for people like me, victims of geological disasters. I am homeless, I have left my home for more than a month now." CRACK IN WALL BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 17, 2012) (REUTERS) INDEPENDENT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADVOCATE CHEN ZONGSHUN SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) INDEPENDENT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADVOCATE CHEN ZONGSHUN SAYING: "The building of the reservoir has softened the mountain slopes. Many cities along the Yangtze River are built on those mountain slopes. People cannot settle down if the mountains are not stable. They are worried every day. How long can that kind of life last? It is not safe for them to live there. The area surrounding the dam is very prone to landslides." BADONG, HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) BUILDINGS ON BANKS OF YANGTZE RIVER/BRIDGE BUILDINGS VARIOUS OF HALF-DEMOLISHED APARTMENT BUILDING IRON BAR STICKING OUT WIFE OF 55-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT SONG WEIXUE SERVING LUNCH CHOPSTICKS PICKING UP FOOD SONG EATING NOODLES SONG'S MOTHER EATING NOODLES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 55-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT SONG WEIXUE SAYING: "We moved here in 2002, but in 2008, some geological experts found in their studies that there are high risks of landslides in Huangtupo and in areas around the reservoir, so they want us to move again. But so far, the government hasn't made any arrangements for our housing." VARIOUS OF CONSTRUCTION SITE OF NEW APARTMENT BUILDINGS EXCAVATOR DRIVING ON DUST ROAD/NEWLY BUILT APARTMENT BUILDINGS VARIOUS OF 57-YEAR-OLD SHOP OWNER SHUAI LINXIANG WIPING DUST OFF BOTTLED BEVERAGES AND SHELF VARIOUS OF SHUAI SWEEPING TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 57-YEAR-OLD SHOP OWNER SHUAI LINXIANG SAYING: "We were pretty fine living there before. But they told us there are risks of landslides so we moved here. But it is very annoying living here. Transportation is not convenient and there is too much dust." YANGTZE RIVER, HUBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) TRACKING SHOT OF YANGTZE RIVER/MOUNTAINS TRACKING SHOT OF BUILDINGS ON MOUNTAINSIDES VARIOUS OF TRACKING SHOTS OF BARGE TRANSPORTING COAL ON RIVER TRACKING SHOT OF MOUNTAINS
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • City:
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Business,Disasters,Environment,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA8CD00QO7N5G6IFAH27BJQQSHI
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: China built the Three Gorges Dam to tame flooding on the Yangtze, improve the transportation of goods and produce pollutant-free power.
    The dam cost China more than $50 billion US dollars and displaced 1.4 million people, but Beijing has always insisted that the benefits of the project outweigh the costs.
    The dam has a total capacity of 22.5 GW, equivalent to burning 50 million tonnes of coal, according to the Three Gorges' Project State Assessment Report.
    But many experts say the money that Beijing has invested in the project will never be enough to solve the ongoing ecological and social problems.
    In early July, Ma Tianxin and his family fled his hilltop home in Badong county after a landslide tore cracks through walls and split his farmland in his village near the Yangtze River.
    It is this county in central Hubei province that provides vivid reminders of the ranks of the forgotten, still grappling with the environmental costs of the Three Gorges Dam, nearly 18 years after it first started construction.
    In the years since the dam was completed, signs of the environment's destruction have started increasing. Among the most troubling have been the geological disasters in the cities along the reservoir behind the dam.
    Ma's home in Shiliangzi village, about 500 metres (546 yards) above the reservoir, sits empty.
    A two-inch (5 cm) crack, along with other fissures, running down the walls to the floor.
    Local officials told Ma and his family to evacuate immediately. He said his home was not judged by geologists to be unsafe to live in and he has pleaded for an answer from the government about his future but to no avail.
    "There hasn't been any compensation for people like me, victims of geological disasters. I am homeless, I have left my home for more than a month now," said Ma, who is now staying with his brother.
    Officials haven't told Ma whether they will relocate him, but the landslide risks are so great in Badong that they are moving 20,000 people from a town called Huangtupo by the end of 2012.
    Around 1.3 million people were originally displaced to make way for the 185-metre Three Gorges Dam completed in 2006 and a reservoir that stretches more than 600 kilometres (372 miles) along the middle reaches of China's Yangtze river and which reached the maximum depth of 175 metres (191 yards) in October 2010.
    Another 100,000 people may be moved from Hubei and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing in the next three to five years due to geological risks.
    The landslides in Badong were exacerbated by the Three Gorges' reservoir, said Chen Zhongshun, an independent environmental protection advocate.
    "The building of the reservoir has softened the mountain slopes. Many cities along the Yangtze River are built on those mountain slopes. People cannot settle down if the mountains are not stable. They are worried every day. How long can that kind of life last? It is not safe for them to live there. The area surrounding the dam is very prone to landslides," said Chen.
    Local officials in Badong did not respond to requests for comment on whether the landslides are due to the dam.
    State news agency Xinhua said 550 million yuan ($86.4 million) has already been spent on relocation costs in Badong, with a population of 420,000.
    In Huangtupo, many residents are awaiting a government directive on resettlement.
    Some complained they have not been offered any arrangement.
    "We moved here in 2002, but in 2008, some geological experts found in their studies that there are high risks of landslides in Huangtupo and in areas around the reservoir, so they want us to move again. But so far, the government hasn't made any arrangements for our housing," said 55-year-old Song Weixue.
    Fearing Huangtupo would never be safe again, the government started constructing a new town, Shennongxi, half an hour away.
    Shuai Linxiang was among the first to move to Shennongxi, where seven-storey apartment blocks, painted in cream, pink and grey, stand amid scorched red earth.
    "We were pretty fine living there before. But they told us there are risks of landslides so we moved here. But it is very annoying living here. Transportation is not convenient and there is too much dust," she said.
    The environmental problems associated with the dam illustrate China's energy dilemma. In order to move away from its reliance on coal-fired power plants, Beijing says it has to develop cleaner forms of power.
    Hydropower construction has slowed since 2006, with several large-scale projects vetoed because of the soaring costs of handling displaced people and protecting the environment.
    But Beijing is now committed to bringing another 140 GW of hydropower capacity on line between 2011 and 2015 in order to meet its renewable energy targets.
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