THE Department of Irrigation and Water Resources Management (DWRM) has launched an immediate field inspection to check the condition of Thaphan Seik Dam and associated hydropower structures as 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, which is 42 miles southeast distant from the Kanbalu seismic centre, at 3 pm on 29 July.
Although the epicentre was reported near Kanbalu area, Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Mandalay Region and Shan State (South) did not show any damage to dams or hydropower structures.
In particular, the Thaphan Seik Dam, which is closest to the quake, was carefully inspected including the dam wall, drain pipe, water diver-sion and hydropower plants and no hydropower structures were found to be affected, officials said.
Thaphan Seik Dam is 108 feet high and 22,587 feet in length. It is the longest dam in Southeast Asia, with a total storage capacity of 2.8 million units, irrigating 500,000 acres of farmland and generating 30 megawatts of electricity.
The Department of Irrigation and Water Resources Management (MWRD) is prioritizing the dam safety work and has set up four dam inspection teams in the run-up to the rainy season to properly inspect the dams and fix any deficiencies found promptly.
In addition, in the event of an emergency, an Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) has been drawn up for each dam to help reduce the impact on the livelihoods of the people living in urban areas below the dam, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.
— MNA
