(TibetanReview.net, Mar02’24) – Online reports suggested that dozens of people had died and thousands had gone missing after a dam was damaged by flooding recently in the previously earthquake-hit Maduo (Tibetan: Matoe) county in Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province, according to China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Mar 3. However, the report also cited local officials as saying there were no casualties due to the incident.
There have been reports online since Feb 22 that the dam-damage and resulting flood had led to the deaths of dozens of people and the missing of thousands of people. Local authorities dismissed them as rumours, the report said.
The report also cited local authorities as saying the incident, which happened on Feb 18, had caused property damage to eight people and the deaths of 195 livestock, as well as damage to roads and water conservancy facilities. They have sought to stress that no one died from it.
The dam was stated to have been repaired on Feb 21.
Maduo county was earlier hit by a major earthquake on May 22, 2021. Highway bridges, roads and walls collapsed as a result of it. At least 20 people were killed, 300 were injured, and 13 were missing, according to a Radio Free Asia report at that time.
However, Chinese officials stated at that time that there were no deaths but that 19 people sustained minor injuries.
It was the strongest earthquake to hit the People’s Republic of China since 2008, preceded by another unrelated earthquake that occurred 5 hours earlier in Yunnan province.