China Sends Troops as Quake Waters Threaten 700,000

By Tian Ying and Paul Tighe

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- China sent troops and police to try to prevent floods threatening more than 700,000 survivors of the country's deadliest earthquake in 32 years in Sichuan province, as weather forecasters said thunderstorms were on the way.

Military engineers carrying dynamite arrived early today at the site of a lake created by landslides that lies 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) from Tangjiashan in Beichuan County, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Helicopters also dropped men and equipment, it said.

The lake is one of 34 in Sichuan posing a danger to people, E. Jingping, deputy minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, said yesterday. While the lakes are ``under control,'' there is a high danger from flooding, he said. the rest