China says huge Three Gorges Dam geologically sound

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese officials in charge of the massive Three Gorges Dam denied on Tuesday it is responsible geological "abnormalities," a week after a landslide in the area killed more than 30 people.

A statement from the Three Gorges project construction committee office said a "geological hazard repair programme" in the dam area was proceeding smoothly.

"There have been no abnormalities seen in the geological environment," the statement said.

"Since the water level rose to 156 meters (515 feet), there have not been any major geological disasters in the Three Gorges Dam area that have led to major loss of life or injuries."

The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, is an engineering feat that seeks to tame the Yangtze River.

But the project will displace up to 1.4 million people, many of them poor farmers from Hubei in central China and neighboring Chongqing.

Last week, a bus was crushed under a landslide at Badong County in Hubei, near a tributary to the dam, killing 31 people. A worker on a nearby railway construction site was also killed and two were missing.

Landslides across the dam area in the summer killed at least 13 people, according to local news reports and the dam environmental agency.