Hopes China quake lake diversion plans work
Updated
Officials in China's Sichuan province are waiting nervously to see if their earthworks can avert a catastrophic flood from one of the area's newly formed quake lakes.
Our correspondent in Chengdu, Charlotte Glennie, says Chinese troops have successfully managed to dig a channel to start draining the dangerous Tangjiashan lake and coming days will reveal if their plans worked.
The big threat has been that the lake would burst its barrier, wiping out towns and villages, and putting the lives of 1.3 million people living downstream at risk.
The lake is just several metres from spilling over and experts are hoping that the water will now flow into their man-made canal.
But the lake's barrier is a fragile mix of mud, rocks and debris, and troops and engineers are well aware that the enormous pressure of the water behind it could still cause it to burst its banks.
