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A fisherman walks with his catch on the banks of the Yangtze River, near the Three Gorges dam, in Yichang, Hubei province, China, Aug. 9, 2012.
Carlos Barria, Reuters — China relocated 1.3 million people during the 17 years it took to complete the Three Gorges dam. Even after finishing the $59 billion project last month, the threat of landslides along the dam's banks will force tens of thousands to move again. The dam is a reminder of the social and environmental challenges that have dogged the world's largest hydroelectric project. While there has been little protest among residents who will be relocated a second time, the environmental fallout over other big investments in China has become a hot-button issue ahead of a leadership transition this year.
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- Thousands being moved from China’s Three Gorges - again
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EDITOR’S NOTE: these images were received on Aug. 22.
Ma Tianxin examines the cracked walls of his home after a landslide near Badong, on the bank of the Yangtze River, 62 miles from the Three Gorges dam, in Hubei province, China, Aug. 7.
Ships sail on the Yangtze River near Badong, 62 miles from the Three Gorges dam, in Hubei province, China, Aug. 7.
A woman walks past a building under demolition at a residential area to be relocated, Huangtupo, Badong city, 62 miles from the Three Gorges dam, in Hubei province, China, Aug. 8.
A laborer walks through a construction site where houses will be raised for relocated people in Badong, near the banks of the Yangtze River, 62 miles from the Three Gorges dam in Hubei province, China, Aug. 7.
A man washes his hands next to a ship, on the banks of the Yangtze River, in Fengjie, 105 miles from the Three Gorges dam, Chongqing province, China, Aug. 7.
A man fishes in the Yangtze River near the Three Gorges dam in Yichang, Hubei province, Aug. 9.
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I wonder how many geologists are looking at this growing mess and thinking "I told you so..."
Instead of one big dam, they could have built several (10) smaller dams to spread the weight of water and to lower other damages. China can still build more smaller dams ahead and/or after the Three Gorges dam to hold the water it needs for irrigation and hydro power; so it can LOWER THE WATER in this big dam to prevent landslide or earthquake causes by this huge mass of water. May be the China goverment will pay me a few dollars for this idea!!!
A lot of would-be amateur entrepreneurs run into the same problem when they start to outgrow their original business into a larger enterprise. Like in cooking, you can't simply double and triple the recipe; some adjustments need to be made to make it work on a large scale. A business model also has to be flexible enough to accommodate the expansion. It is disastrous when a business does it, financially devastating when a large corporation does it, and can be fatal when a country does it. It is the direct result of managers and owners being in too much of a hurry to become extremely wealthy. This causes them to cut too many corners and take too many risks. It is much more of a challenge to take your time and build a business more slowly, to be able to adjust to fast changing conditions. If you don't have a solid business plan you don't have a business; you only have an expensive hobby that is guaranteed to bomb when it gets too big for you to handle.
Looks lie the usual obstructionist, do nothings have crawled out from under their rocks again.
I wonder if they kept a good count on how much concrete was really mixed in and how much got stolen. They MAY have a weak mixture. Or on the other hand, they could get a little land movement under the dam itself and have a "San Francisquito" type dam failure.
China grabbed the spotlight they wanted with their huge dam. Unfortunately for them, its proven to have a lot of drawbacks and fairly obviously could have been designed much better. Perhaps with multiple dams.. At least its an effort to produce hydro electric.
The time is coming to put a giant wind farm in the Atlantic. It can produce huge amounts of megawatts, greatly reducing the strain on our aging electric infrastructure and being carbon-neutral and lowering demand and emissions on fossel fuels. The time is coming very soon. The time and price are just about right. Now we just gotta keep the big oil lobby out of the way.