China activates emergency response for high-risk barrier lake on China-Nepal border

The Ministry of Water Resources on Thursday activated a Level IV emergency flood response — the lowest in the country's four-tier disaster-relief system, warning that a barrier lake that formed after a mudslide on the China-Nepal border faces a high risk of breaching and sending floodwaters downstream.

The barrier lake formed near the confluence where Nepal's Chhochen Khola River flows into the Purepu Tsangpo River in China after a deadly mudslide that began in Nepal on Wednesday morning and caused heavy casualties and large numbers of missing people at Gyirong Port in Gyirong county, Shigatse, Xizang autonomous region.

The lake had accumulated an estimated 2 million cubic meters of water as of Thursday morning, the ministry said in a media release on Thursday.

The ministry warned of a high breach risk as forecasts show that about 3 million cubic meters will flow into the lake over the next three days. This may cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream, it said.

The ministry has urged the Xizang water resources authority to closely monitor the barrier lake and rainfall, strengthen forecasting and risk assessments, and pinpoint communities in the potential path of the breach, the release said. Aside from issuing timely risk warnings, they should evacuate threatened residents in advance.

A hydrological emergency monitoring team has been closely monitoring the situation at the site, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, the ministry has dispatched an expert team to Gyirong county to assist with the emergency response.

With satellite remote sensing and other monitoring tools, the ministry is further inspecting rivers near the mudslide-hit area for possible new barrier lakes and will ensure risk warnings are delivered promptly to frontline local authorities, the ministry said in another media release.