Is Three Gorges Dam causing quakes?

The Three Gorges Dam

The construction of the Three Gorges Dam is one of the biggest infrastructure projects the world has ever seen. Over a decade in the making, US$39 billion to build and responsible for the displacement of more than a million people, it is the jewel in China's renewable energy crown.

However, there is a drawback. Well, several actually. Apart from placing enormous pressure on the nation's economy, as well as causing rows over land shortages and ecological deterioration, there is concern that the Three Gorges Dam is causing earthquakes.

In an article in The Times, over the past six months, the area around the dam and up to 410 miles away in Chongqing, small-scale earthquakes have been recorded by the Chinese authorities.

Cracks have split roads and affected the structural integrity of several buildings leading the local government to declare that 300,000 people will have to move out in addition to the 1.4 million evicted to make way for the dam. According to state news agency, Xinhua, more than 50,000 residents have already been relocated owing to seismic problems that were not foreseen when the dam was built.

Legacy of the Three Gorge Dam

The dam was meant to control the scourge of flooding, irrigate arid provinces and generate millions of kilowatts in cheap, clean electricity, however the project has had its share of controversies. The forced relocation of millions of citizens, the flooding of farmland and the damage to local ecosystems have all sullied the project's reputation and now the earthquakes and landslides could seal its fate.

Officials first dismissed the landslides as a "foreseeable side-effect" of the massive dam project, but now, with 9,324 dangerous sites identified, more attention is being paid. Geologists working midway down the reservoir have found 700 around one town alone on the north bank and have warned that landslides could go on for 20 years as a huge settlement of earth and water takes shape.

It is expected that these problems will add an extra US$10 billion to the dam's costs.

Relevant articles:

Asian energy consumption | Megaprojects of Asia | Asia's green megaprojects

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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