A series of earth quakes in China's southwest Yunnan province, bordering Burma has brought to the fore the spectre of future Chinese-made dam disasters in northern Burma, said a Kachin watchdog group after a quake of 4.9 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Ruili (Shweli) on the China-Burma border early on Friday morning.

The governments of China and Burma are constructing three dams for hydropower projects in Taping River also called Ta Hkaw Hka in Kachin. It is rooted from China's Yunnan province and will join Irrawaddy River near Bhamo in Kachin state, northern Burma, said the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) based on China-Burma border.

Mr. Awng Wa, chairman and founder of KDNG said, "If the three dams in Taping River should burst due to earth quakes originating from Yunnan province, the floods from the dams will directly threaten the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in Myothit, Momauk (N'Mawk) and Bhamo (Manmaw)."

China is also building its Taping River dam on the two countries' border and down the river in Burmese territories where Taping No. 1 and No. 2 Hydropower projects are being constructed jointly by the Burmese ruling junta and China Datang Corporation (CDT).

This morning, the earth quake's epicenter was at Dehong Dai -- Jingpo (also called Kachin in Burma) Autonomous Prefecture and started at 4:20 a.m. local time and continued intermittently till about 5 a.m. local time, said a resident of Ruili.

China's state-run Xihua has reported that nine people are injured of whom two are serious in a village near Ruili. But an unofficial estimate is that the number of injured people is more, according to residents of Ruili.

A Kachin resident of Ruili said, "All government schools in Ruili and Prefecture are closed today following two moderate earth quakes occurring consecutively in the Prefecture."

The Burma-Asia World Company and China's China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) are jointly gearing up to construct dams at Myitsone, the Mali-N'Mai River confluence, 10 miles north of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state and Chibwe in N'Mai River of a total of seven dam projects in Mali and N'Mai rivers in Kachin state.

China's Yunnan province and Kachin state in northern Burma are situated on the same earth quake line and five people died and over 100 people were injured in the earth quakes near Yingjiang County on August 20 and 21 in Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture.