1.3 million 'ordered to evacuate'

There are reports 1.3 million people have been ordered to move to higher ground in China as a "quake lake" sits on the brink.

Chinese soldiers have been working to clear landslides caused by this month's devastating earthquake, which has seen some lakes swell to dangerously high levels.

Tan Li, Communist Party Secretary of Mianyang city has reportedly issued an order that 1.3 million people living downstream from Tangjiashan, a swelling quake-induced lake, must evacuate to higher ground.

They are being told there is a threat of flooding and strong aftershocks.

But Zhou Hua, a Mianyang city official who is spokesman for the lake relief effort, has said the report from state media was inaccurate.

"There is a virtual training exercise scheduled for Saturday to test our contingency plan to move that many people," he said.

"But there is no public participation, and we see no reason at all to actually implement the plan at this stage."

The landslide-blocked river at Tangjiashan in southwest China is now the most pressing danger after an earthquake devastated the region on May 12.

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