Scientists say the 7.9 earthquake responsible for killing more than 80,000 people in China last May could have been triggered by the enormous Zipingpu dam. The dam is in close proximity to the fault line and just 3 miles from the Sichuan quake site.
Christian Klose of the Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory said the sudden shift of the 315 million tonnes of water the dam held increased the natural stress from tectonic movement by 25x, causing a rupture that lead to the quake.
Fan Xaio, chief engineer of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in Chengdu, opposed the construction of Zipingpu and had warned the Chinese government that dams like Zipingpu were dangerous when built in seismically active areas to no avail.
More story: Chinese Earthquake May Have Been Man-Made
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