Range of the earthquake

Range of the earthquake

Range of the earthquake

The oldest irrigation system in the world is safe after China's giant Quake

On Wednesday May 14th, the Ministry of Water Resources announced that the world’s oldest operating irrigation system, the Dujiangyan project, sustained minor damage, but was not compromised by the giant quake that hit Sichuan Province on Monday.

The quake caused the V-shaped dike of the 2,000 year old Dujiangyan project to crack. The city of Dujiangyan was near the quake’s epicenter. The Ministry of Water Resources set up a command center to safely discharge the resevoir’s rising waters and guarantee that there was no threat to Dujiangyan and the Chengdu Plane. The ministry said that Dujiangyan City could be flooded if major problems emerged at the dam at the reservoir.

The ancient Dujiangyan project was built in 256 BC and currently irrigates over 666,000 hectares of land. Sichuan’s other major water projects including the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the Three Gorges Dam were both undamaged by the giant quake on Monday.

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