The Chinese military deployed several hundreds of soldiers to dig a channel that would ease the pressure on a "quake lake" in the province of Sichuan, the worst hit by the 7.9 earthquake.
The troops have been working all night, the Chinese media reported.

The water built up in the newly formed lake of Tangjiashan and could break the barrier, thus endangering tens of thousands of people living downstream. The lake formed as the disastrous earthquake hit on 12 May causing several landslides that blocked a section of the Jianhe River.

Thousands of people were evacuated in Sichuan province as engineers are preparing to detonate the “quake lake”. Nearly 130,000 people left their homes located downstream, Xinhua news agency reported.

If engineers reach the conclusion that the dam will break, more than a million will have to leave their homes.

"It's better for them to complain about the trouble that the evacuation would bring than to shed tears after the possible danger," said Liu Ning with the Ministry of Water Resources.

Liu added that the landslides are holding back 170 cubic yards (130 million cubic meters) of water.

Chinese authorities released an updated death toll of the earthquake. Beijing estimated the powerful tremor killed at least 65,080. Another 23,150 are missing.

The quake also left approximately five million people without home. Several powerful aftershocks have struck the area hindering the relief efforts. The last aftershock hit the area on Sunday killing six other people and wrecking 300,000 more homes.