Chinese dams and Levees Disasters

Durring the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, the Chinese Nationalist Govrnment decided to open up the dike of the Yellow River near Zhengzhou to halt Japanese advance with flood water. They decided to not alert their people in order to surprise the Japanese. The result, was the death of 500,000 to 900,000 of their own people instantly.

in 1975 the Banqiao Reservoir Dam was effected by a 1 in a 1000 year flood. The rsult was 26,000 people died from flooding and another 145,000 died during subsequent epidemics and famine. In addition, about 5,960,000 buildings collapsed, and 11 million residents were affected in all.