Disaster Waiting: China Dam
Posted: Monday, November 28, 2011
by Octavia Hansen
Octavia Hansen
The Three Gorges Dam in China is a titanic disaster waiting to happen. It's not a question of "if", only "when." The proposal of the dam was somewhere in between 'good for the country' and 'we'll show the world.' It is supposed to bring power to millions of people but in its concept and building, has displaced thousands of people and destroyed lifelong homes, villages and towns that had been there for hundreds of years.
This portion of the earth's crust was not meant to hold that much water. Where lakes and rivers occur naturally, it's a process of thousands, sometimes millions of years. The China dam was built in the last decade, with much controversy as to materials and corruption. When water began building up behind the dam, it shifted the land. Water was no longer flowing through, the lake began filling.
Seismic activity increased as the water collected behind the dam. In May 2008, the land snapped and 80,000 people paid the ultimate price. Though the dam stayed in tact, surrounding villages, houses, people were lost. This has been the largest, most deadly outcome so far. There have been lesser tremors with more frequency. Time and pressure are against China. Small ground movements relieve pressure for a short time but not enough to avert the future catastrophe. This will happen. Destruction will be on an unknown scale, loss of land and life will be felt for generations.
The worst case senario:
When the largest earthquake ever recorded shakes the ground, liquifying the foundation, land, and opening fault lines, the dam will crack and break. The power of water is that it does not compress, it moves. Any opening allows water through and as it moves it creates a larger opening for itself, much like a wedge driven into a small crack. The dam will weaken, then break apart, small sections at first, then larger pieces will brake off as support sections no longer are secure. Giant chunks of the dam will be pushed ahead of a wall of water the size of the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004. The water and dam parts will plow up trees, land, other rocks, everything in it's way . . . for 1000 miles . . . all the way to the sea. This happened millions of years ago across the upper North American continent. An ice dam gave way as one of many ice ages receded northward and millions of gallons of water and debris swept across what is still called The Scrublands, traveling all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Scrub lines are seen to this day hundreds of feet up the side of mountains and cliffs in The Dakota lands. It began in an instant and continued non-stop for days.
China isn't interested in history. The second largest economy in the world wears blinders against anything that would stop what is considered progress. Building other dams next to other fault lines indicates they are not discouraged by these frightening signs of disaster. Future devastation on a massive scale does not turn their plans. Government figures, who do not live near by nor in the path of oblivion, support yet even more massive structures. As long as it is profitable, dams will be built. Hoover Dam on the Nevada/Arizona state line, was proven to escalate seismic activity in the region. So far, there is no damage and no signs of dam or rock weakening. This does not mean it will stand for all time. It seems secure enough in this era.
Earthquakes have no warnings that tell how long or how strong the tremor. But the area in danger is known. Now, everyone waits.
This Article has been viewed 304 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.