"Do not worry, the dam is perfectly stable. There is no danger of collapse, there is nothing to worry...oh, no! Allah help me!"
The Zipingpu dam, above the city of Dujiangyan with its population of 600,000, was said at one stage to be in an "extremely dangerous state" with cracks more than four inches wide appearing in its face, though the water resources ministry later said on its website that it was stable for the time being. Tulong dam, further north on the Min river, was said by officials to be near collapse, something which would have a knock-on effect on a series of dams and power stations further downstream. Almost 400 dams altogether were said to have been affected by Monday's earthquake – the wet and mountainous province is criss-crossed by some of China's biggest and fastest-flowing rivers. While some dams, like Zipingpu, are modern, others were built when construction standards were lower.
"Do not worry, the dam is perfectly stable. There is no danger of collapse, there is nothing to worry...oh, no! Allah help me!"