Premier Wen: People´s safety is top priority

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Source: CCTV.com | 06-06-2008 08:47

After inspecting the Tangjiashan barrier lake, Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his concerns about the risk of relief work.

Wen Jiabao said "This is the second time I have been here. Now we're encountering a lot of uncertainties. First is the weather condition. Either the torrential or the slow water inflow will bring us trouble, and we cannot control the situation. Second, when the water level reaches 740 meters or even higher, it may not let out along the drainage sluice as we expected. So the drainage may be halted. But the victims have been living in tents for a long time, and the weather is hot, so they may become very anxious. Before I came here, I assumed there would be a lot of difficulties. I thought there might be the heavy rain today or tomorrow, and the rain may break the dam. So the top priority right now is to ensure the safety of the 1.35 million people. In addition, there are a lot of aftershocks in the region. The landslides will cause great difficulties. The upstream will bring some corpses and rubbles, it may block up the drainage channel. I also assumed another danger, that is, whether the buildings along the drainage sluice can endure the powerful water force. When I inspected the geographic situation, I found the circumstances are more complicated than my expectation. So we cannot give confusing information to the people. We should resolve the problems as soon as possible."

Editor:Xiong Qu