The shadow of Banqiao: Fears rise over China’s Brahmaputra mega-dam plans

Guwahati, Jan. 7: The proposed Chinese mega-dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon of the river Brahmaputra in Eastern Tibet can have a disastrous impact, more so because China has the dubious distinction of witnessing one of the world's worst-ever dam failures, which resulted in the death of more than two lakh people.

The Banqiao dam in China collapsed on August 8, 1975, following the landfall of a cyclone, which had a devastating impact on the entire area. According to reports available, immediately after the collapse of the dam, massive waves of water measuring about 33 feet high and 11 km wide, gushed down from the dam and caused massive devastation on the way.

The waves of water resulted in the breaking of as many as 62 other smaller dams and according to reports, 11 million people were affected and almost six lakh buildings collapsed.

The dykes of Quan river also collapsed, which caused more devastation. No media was allowed in the area for quite some time as China tried to sweep the details of the event under the carpet and the official records were declassified only in 2005. It is estimated that more than two lakh people lost their lives in the dam failure and that is why, it is termed as the greatest man-made catastrophe of the world.

The collapse of the Chinese dam was not the only incident of a dam collapse in the world. On March 12, 1928, the St Francis dam in California collapsed resulted in devastating floods and it was estimated that over 400 persons lost their lives in that unfortunate incident.

On December 2, 1959, the Malpesset dam in southern France collapsed and the city of Frejus was badly affected. More than 400 persons were killed in the tragedy. The Vajont dam in Italy collapsed on October 9, 1963 and five villages were wiped out and more than two thousand people lost their lives.

The Lower San Fernando dam in California collapsed following an earthquake of 6.6 on the Richter scale. Around 340 persons lost their lives and more than 80,000 persons could be evacuated.

The proposed Chinese dam will be much larger than the dams that collapsed, causing devastating human tragedy and if dam failure takes place it may wipe out Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and parts of Bangladesh from the face of the earth. Moreover, the dam will be constructed in a highly seismic zone prone to mega earthquakes and no one is very sure whether the dam would be able to withstand mega quakes, that occurs in that area very often.

- By R Dutta Choudhury