'Quake lake' evacuation continues

Thousands are under threat if the water spills over from the 'quake lake'

About 200,000 people have now been evacuated to higher ground from an area at risk of flooding from a lake formed after the Sichuan earthquake.

Residents around the city of Mianyang are being moved as troops dig diversion channels to relieve pressure on the lake, made by landslide-blocked rivers.

But there are fears that the dam could burst before they finish.

China has emergency plans to move a further one million people. Water would reach major urban areas within hours.

Evacuation drill

Our correspondent Nick Mackie, in Mianyang - where at least 70,000 are now on higher ground - says the government is briefing locals on the emergency plan through the media and at street corner gatherings.

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Footage of the Chinese army at a resettlement camp near Sangzao village

Public transport would be on hand to take children, the old and infirm to some 61 sites around the city that are being equipped with toilets and supplied with food and water.

The majority, however, on hearing the sirens, would have to go on foot as no private cars would be allowed, our correspondent says.

The authorities have tested their communication channels and readiness to respond to a breach in the barrier holding back some 180 million cubic metres of water.

Inundation fears

Professor Graham Mills, a British academic staying in the city, said roads out of Mianyang had been jammed with people trying to leave, and that the continually rising level of the lake was causing great concern.

"We're given to understand the army is working feverishly hard to build some sort of channel," he told the BBC.

"But should those lakes - and it's not just those dams, and it's not just one, it's several - should they break, the city will be inundated."

Tangjiashan lake is the largest of more than 30 similar lakes formed by the earthquake two weeks ago.

The Chinese government has allocated 200m yuan ($29m, £14.5m) to making the "quake lakes" safe, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The confirmed death toll of the 12 May earthquake stands at 68,977. Another 17,974 people are still missing.