China Earthqhake Weakens Dams

CHENGDU, China (AP) — Nearly 70 dams scarred by the force of China's most powerful earthquake in three decades were in danger of bursting, rattled again Sunday by one of the strongest aftershocks since the initial disaster. The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 65,080, with another 23,150 people missing, the Cabinet said. Premier Wen Jiabao has said the number of dead could surpass 80,000. One of the most powerful aftershocks to hit quake-ravaged central China leveled many more homes and killed a person, leaving dozens more injured Sunday. China grappled with backed-up rivers and reservoirs in danger of collapse, along with looming storms heralding the start of rainy season that threatened Monday to compound damage from the country's worst earthquake in three decades.

MIANYANG, China (AP) — Chinese officials rushed Tuesday to evacuate another 80,000 people in the path of potential floodwaters building up behind a quake-spawned dam as soldiers carved a channel to try to drain away the threat. The official Xinhua News Agency reported emergency workers would try to complete the evacuation by midnight Tuesday, taking the number of people moved out of the threatened valley to almost 160,000, from more than 30 townships, The Tangjiashan lake in northern Sichuan province, formed when a massive landslide blocked a river, is one of dozens of fragile dams created during the earthquake that pose a new destructive threat in the disaster zone.