¡¡¡¡LANZHOU, Oct. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The tremors that struck northwest China's Gansu Province Saturday night have caused damage to two local reservoirs, which may burst into flooding, local government said.

¡¡¡¡Cracks, five and one decimeter wide respectively, have been spotted on the dams of the Shuangshusi and Zhaizhaizi reservoirs in the quake-hit Mingle county, and the county government has decided to lower water levels of the reservoirs by releasing waterin storage.

¡¡¡¡From 9 p.m. Saturday night, workers began to release water in storage. And by 7:30 Sunday morning the water had been reduced from 24 million cubic meters to 18.85 million cubic meters in Shuangshusi reservoir and from 14 million cubic meters to 13.6 million cubic meters in Zhaizhaizi reservoir.

¡¡¡¡The quakes, measuring 6.1 degrees and 5.8 degrees on the Richter scale, jolted areas between Minle and Shandan counties of Zhangye City in Gansu Province at 20:41 and 20:48 Saturday.

¡¡¡¡By press time, eight people have been confirmed dead and 29 others wounded, at lest eight of whom were in serious condition, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

¡¡¡¡Latest statistics showed that the quakes had toppled 10,893 residential rooms, killing or hurting over 3,000 head of livestock.

¡¡¡¡Damages were also caused to schools, grain warehouses, bridges,water and power supplies.

¡¡¡¡The Civil Affairs Ministry has sent 2,000 cotton-padded tents for victims in the quake-hit regions where night temperatures would drop below zero Celsius degree.

¡¡¡¡According to the Chinese seismological monitoring network, the epicenters of the quakes are located at 38.4 degrees north latitude, 101.2 degrees east longitude, and 38.4 degrees north latitude and 101.1 degrees east longitude.

¡¡¡¡Sources from the Gansu provincial seismological bureau said that 30 percent of the houses in the epicenters have been severelydamaged.

¡¡¡¡The report from the bureau says that 90 percent of the buildings in Yaozhaizi village, Yonggu Township of Minle County, have collapsed in the quakes.

¡¡¡¡The temperature in the earthquake-shaken areas was five to six degrees below zero. It snowed a few days ago.

¡¡¡¡The epicenters are about 500 kilometers northwest to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu.

¡¡¡¡The two quake-hit counties are both located on an earthquake-prone belt in northwest China where many historic tremors happened.A powerful quake measuring 7.25 degrees on the Richter scale struck within Shandan county in 1954, claiming 50 lives and wounding more than 300. Enditem