Diversion work completed in largest barrier lake

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By Saturday night, more than 340 soldiers and engineers had been evacuated by helicopters from Tangjiashan Lake. The remaining team is expected to leave later on Sunday. Only a small squadron of 20 soldiers will stay at Tangjiashan to monitor the situation.

Jiao Yong said, "We will keep a constant watch over the lake, mainly from 3 aspects. The first aspect is hydrological monitoring. We are paying close attention to the variations of water level on the lake.

We are also monitoring any signs of change in the water along the diversion channel and the blockage. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is supporting us with high-tech means. Through satellite remote sensing, they can transmit real time data from the site to us."

Experts have set up a monitoring network covering over 3,500 square kilometers of the lake's upstream area. 12 monitoring stations have been put in place to collect information about precipitation, water level variations and meteorological conditions.

Downstream in the city of Mianyang, nearly 200,000 people were evacuated to safer areas as of 8 am on Saturday. The action is designed to deal with any emergency arising from one third of the water volume in Tangjiashan Lake bursting over its banks. Authorities in the city are organizing more drills to deal with even worse scenarios. Some 1.2 million people will have to be relocated if half of the lake volume is released. And 1.3 million people will need to be evacuated if the whole volume of water in the lake bursts it quake-made barrier.

Mount Fule is the highest point in Mianyang City. During normal times, it is a nice resort area for city dwellers. But now, it's home to more than 30,000 evacuees. Life in tents or makeshift cottages is inconvenient. But most people here are dealing with the situation as best as they can.