Geological hazards have forced 938 people to evacuate in central China's Hubei Province since trial water storage operations for the Three Gorges Project launched three months ago.

Water levels behind the dam rose from 145 m on September 28 to 172.3 m, the projected goal of this year, at the end of last month. The reservoir holds more than 19.3 billion cubic meters of water.

Water levels behind the Three Gorges Dam rose from 145 m on September 28 to 172.3 m, the projected goal of this year, at the end of last month. The reservoir holds more than 19.3 billion cubic meters of water.

Rising water levels led to 26 geological disasters including landsides and mud-flows. No casualties were reported, Wang Guoyao, vice secretary general of the Hubei Provincial Government, said at a conference on geological disasters in Wuhan City, Hubei's capital Thursday.

The people whose houses were under potential damages had moved to safe places where new homes will be built. Some are living with their relatives, he said.

"Experts, officials and villagers have been closely monitoring the geological condition along the banks and are working to improve disaster-control methods," he said. "Each monitoring team is required to submit geological reports every day."

"Thanks to efforts harnessing geological hazards, banks of the reservoir area are stable according to our observation," said Li Lierong, who was in charge of the mitigation of Three Gorges geological disasters.

He led a team to conduct a safety survey along more than 1,000 km of embankments during the water storage.

"Because of the complicated natural and geological conditions in the reservoir area, lots of landslides had occurred since the Song Dynasty (960-1279)," he said.

"We have predicted the disasters during the water storage. The situation is under control now. But we should continue to treat the unstable sites."

The water level is expected to reach 175 m and be fully functional in terms of flood control when the Three Gorges project is completed.

The construction of the dam located in Hubei began in 1993. The 22.5-billion-U.S.-dollar project is a multi-functional water control system built at the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2008)