How many people were forced to move because of the Three Gorges Dam?
HUANGTUPO, China (Reuters) - China relocated 1.3 million people during the 17 years it took to complete the Three Gorges dam.
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Some facts about the Three Gorges project:An estimated 250,000 workers are involved in the project. The Three Gorges Reservoir will inundate 632 square kilometers (395 square miles) of land. An estimated 1.2 million people will be resettled by the dam.
Building the Three Gorges Dam displaced more people than the three largest Chinese dams before it combined. The reservoir submerged two cities, 114 towns and 1,680 villages along the river banks.
Dam construction has played significant roles in flood control, irrigation, navigation, and energy supply; however, the enormous negative effects, such as landslides, ecological problems, and water quality decline, could surpass positive gains.
When the dam is completed, 13 cities, 140 towns and over 1,300 villages will be submerged by the Three Gorges Reservoir. To make way for the Three Gorges Dam, 1.5 million people will have to abandon their homes. More than 160,000 citizens have already been relocated.
The project has 34 generators, which includes 32 main generators. The other two are power generators with a capacity of 50MW each. The plant took 17 years to construct and was built in stages by state-backed sponsor China Yangtze Three Gorges Dam Project Development Corporation. Initial works began in 1993.
The most important effect that the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has had on Chinese society has been the displacement of millions of people from the Yangtze river region. In order to establish the reservoir, hundreds (possible thousands) of towns and villages were evacuated and later submerged.
It also affects the wildlife and ecosystem of the areas near its location, and that's not the end of it. The Three Gorges Dam is claimed to be slowing the Earth's rotation! The huge capacity of the dam can hold 42 billion tons of water at maximum. NASA scientists believe that this shift has an impact on Earth.
Above all, it was sustainable. The dam cut coal consumption by 6 million tons each year, according to the World Bank estimates. However, building it required access to international expertise and experts in the field capable of completing such a complex project.