| Some scientists claim that a man-made dam triggered the devastating Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. Dams have been responsible for earthquakes in the past. Scientists Say Dam Ignited Chinese Quake Some scientists say the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan last May and killed about 700,000 people and displaced more than 5 million may have been sparked by the large 511-foot-high Zipingpu dam located miles from the epicenter. The dam is only 550 yards from the fault line, and scientists say the "weight of water, and the effect of it penetrating into the rock, could have affected the pressure on the fault line underneath, possibly unleashing a chain of ruptures that led to the quake," according to the Daily Telegraph. Fan Xiao, the head engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu, said it was "very likely" that the building of the dam precipitated the earthquake, noting, "This earthquake was very unusual for this area." The Chinese government has consistently rejected speculation that the dam led to the quake and has prevented "access to seismological and geological data" on the matter. The government has promoted the development of dams both for economic reasons and to reduce flooding. Fan says the government had ignored former warnings about the Zipingpu dam's potential for destruction. But Lei Xinglin, of the China Earthquake Administration, said, "A reservoir in the region will have positive and negative effects on a potential earthquake, but it is ridiculous to say an earthquake was caused by the dam." According to Lei, "In order to gain more knowledge, we still need to carefully research this topic rather than jumping to conclusions," The Associated Press reports. Also, Roger Musson, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said "the scale of the Wenchuan earthquake indicates that it was a true tectonic event which would have occurred with or without the Zipingpu dam," and, "It is thus only a question as to whether stresses from the reservoir advanced the timing of the earthquake." |