October 11, 2008

China working to restore power grid in earthquake zones

The State Electricity Regulatory Commission has activated its highest possible emergency response and promised all out efforts to restore power disrupted by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the southwestern Sichuan Province.

The quake, whose epicenter was in Wenchuan County, disrupted the electricity supply in central and northwestern regions.

Mr Wang Xudong president of SERC said that it is too soon to know how seriously the grid has been damaged, but the class one emergency response sheds some light on its gravity. Class one is the top of five levels.

To secure power supply, the SERC also ordered hydropower plants to monitor dams in quake-hit areas and keep close touch with local governments and flood-control command agencies.

The emergency came just months after more than 6 million power staff were thrown into a 40 day fight to restore services to areas of China hit by an unusually severe round of winter weather. Storms cut electricity to 110 million people in 170 counties and damaged 36,740 transmission lines.