(November 19, 2009) Scientists agree that dams can trigger earthquakes. A new research paper presents fresh evidence that the devastating earthquake which killed more than 80,000 people in China's Sichuan Province in May 2008 was triggered by the Zipingpu Dam. This would be the world's deadliest dam-induced earthquake ever.
Reservoirs can trigger quakes by adding weight to the Earth crust, and by lubricating the fissures of faults. As I reported earlier, there are more than 70 earthquakes which scientists believe have been induced by dams. In the US, the construction of the Hoover Dam led to several hundred small tremors in the 1940s. California's Oroville Dam, the country's largest earthen dam, caused a 5.7 quake in 1975.
Peter Bosshard is the policy director of International Rivers. Read his blog here.