Dam has 'not increased risk'

There has been "no apparent increase" in geological disasters in the Three Gorges reservoir area since the construction of the world's longest dam, a senior official said yesterday.

"We have seen no evidence of any increase in geological or environmental disasters in the reservoir area," said Wang Xiaofeng, director of the office of the State Council Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.

He said records showed the area, which has a brittle terrain, is prone to landslides and other geological disasters, adding that in the decades before the construction of the dam, several major landslides had occurred.