Associated Press

May 26, 2008 7:18 a.m.

ANXIAN, China -- Chinese soldiers prepared Monday to explode earthquake debris（n. 碎片,残骸） blocking a river where rising waters threatened to flood disaster victims.

Two weeks after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit central Sichuan province, lakes formed by obstructed rivers clogged （vi. 障碍,阻塞）by landslides complicated the recovery efforts that were already strained to find shelter for millions of homeless.

One of the most powerful aftershocks（余震）since the May 12 quake killed at least eight people Sunday, the Cabinet said. The confirmed death toll from the disaster rose Monday to 65,080, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said, with 23,150 people still missing and 360,058 others injured. Monday's death toll was up about 2,500 from a day earlier. Premier Wen Jiabao has already said he expects the death toll to eventually surpass 80,000.

To fight the flood risk, 1,800 soldiers arrived Monday on foot at the new Tangjiashan lake in Beichuan county, each carrying 22 pounds of explosives to blast through the debris, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The lake is two miles upstream from the center of Beichuan county. Thousands of people who remained there after the initial earthquake have been evacuated in recent days as a precaution.

With weather clearing that had prevented helicopter flights, an earth mover was also lifted in the area to help remove debris, in footage shown on state TV. But thunderstorms were forecast for parts of Sichuan later Monday and Tuesday, the China Meteorological Administration（中国气象局） said, adding they "could increase the risks posed by river blockages in some quake-hit areas."

The backed-up lake is one of several dozen in Sichuan. In Anxian country, about 30 miles to the south of Beichuan, a landslide blocked the Chaping river, submerging Shuangdian village. Residents say the lake has been rising by about 2-1/2 yards a day. "The water was covering the road, and two days later I could not see the roof of my house anymore," said Liu Zhongfu, 31, a truck driver who built his two-story wooden house himself, standing on a mountain overlooking the new lake.

A sofa and bits of wood that were once part of houses could be seen floating among the debris in the milky green water. Mr. Liu was working away from home when the earthquake hit. His wife, three-month-old daughter and 60-year-old mother were all unhurt. "I thought I could go back but I have nothing now. My village, it's all become a sea," he said.

Water there was backed up two miles along the river, said Wang Li, county Communist Party secretary. "We need to take care of this soon, this is a serious situation," he said. Elsewhere, 600 people were voluntarily evacuated from Guanzhuang in Qingchuan county because of landslide worries. "There's no danger for this exact moment from flooding but we are very worried because the whole mountain is loose," said Ma Jian, a local official.

Separately, a Chinese state news agency says that three reservoirs（n. 贮水池,贮藏处,贮备,水库 vt. 储藏） in Shaanxi province in central China are in danger of collapsing after Sunday's aftershock. Shaanxi is just north of Sichuan. Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Water Resources as saying the earthquake had put 2,383 reservoirs in danger across the country.

China's top Communist Party leaders said relief efforts should now focus more on resettlement and post-quake reconstruction, but that work to find survivors shouldn't stop. The shift was announced at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee presided over by President Hu Jintao, Xinhua reported.

Many of the earthquake victims were children -- although no specifics have been given on how many -- prompting officials to clarify the country's strict one-child policy（独生子女政策）. The Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee in the capital of hard-hit Sichuan province said families whose child was killed, severely injured or disabled in the quake could get a certificate allowing them to have another child.

Monday's emergency announcement affects parents in the city of Chengdu, which has 10 million people, as well as two of the hardest-hit cities, Dujiangyan and Pengzhou. The emergency announcement was simply clarifying existing guidelines, said a family planning committee official surnamed Wang. "There are just a lot of cases now, so we need to clarify our policies," he said. The committee plans to help about 1,200 of the worst-hit families, but that number could change, Mr. Wang said.

The announcementoffers a glimpse intothe strict workings of China's one-child system. It addresses the common problem of couples illegally having more than one child. If a child born illegally was killed in the quake, the parents will no longer have to pay fines for that child -- but the previously paid fines won't be refunded, the committee said.

If a couple's legally born child was killed and the couple is left with an illegally born child under the age of 18, that child can be registered as the legal child -- an important move that gives the child previously denied rights including nine years of free compulsory education（九年制义务教育）.

Many Chinese have shown interest in adopting earthquake orphans, and Monday's announcement says there are no limits onthe number of earthquake orphans a family can adopt. A couple that adopts won't be penalized if they later have their own biological child. Officials estimated last week that the quake left about 4,000 orphans, but they have said they will make every effort toplace children with other family members.

China's one-child policy was launched in the late 1970s to control China's exploding population and ensure better education and health care. The law limits couples to having one child but includes certain exceptions for ethnic groups, rural families and families where both parents were the only child in their families when they were growing up.

The government says the policy has prevented an additional 400 million births, but critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.

Copyright © 2008 Associated Press

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