New danger for Chinese quake zone

The clear-up will take a lot of time

Nearly 50,000 people in south-west China face the threat of reservoir dams collapsing as a result of Tuesday's earthquake, according to officials.

Four people were killed, hundreds injured and more than 125,000 left homeless in Ludian county, Yunnan province, by the 5.6 magnitude tremor.

Officials said it damaged 22 reservoir dams, causing cracks in the walls.

The disaster has also crippled the region's staple industry of flue-cured tobacco, state news agency Xinhua said.

By Thursday, relief workers had rushed at least 6,000 tents to the area for those left homeless, along with medicine and food.

Endangered

Reports say the earthquake damaged reservoirs about 400 km (240 miles) north of the provincial capital, Kunming.

"About 47,000 residents living downstream of the reservoirs are endangered," Xinhua said.

An official from the largest of the affected reservoirs said two cracks had been found on the walls.

No flooding had occurred, but there was still a threat the wall could collapse, he added.

Workers have begun to evacuate around 2,000 villagers, Reuters news agency quoted a provincial government official as saying.

The tremor was the third major earthquake to hit Ludian county within a year.

Two quakes measuring 5.1 and 5.0 on the Richter scale hit the area last November, killing four people and injuring 120.