Over 260 soldiers are working feverishly to dig a trench to try to drain a local reservoir in Pinggu County in Yunnan which is threatening thousands of people downstream.
The dam holding back the reservoir sustained a major crack following Tuesday night's 6.6-magnitude earthquake in the county.
Liu Feng is a reporter with China Central Television.
"As we can see, the crack is about 5 to 15 centimeter wide. The dam is about 120 meters long and the crack stretches for over 100 meters. The reservoir is located at the upstream of the epicenter Yong Ping town, threatening about 20,000 local residents."
Local authorities say they hope to have a drainage trench finished by tomorrow, which should drain the reservoir over the following 48-hours.
The threat of flooding has already forced around 500 people from their homes.
Tuesday night's earthquake in Pinggu County left one person dead and over 300 others hurt.
The region has been rattled by numerous aftershocks, forcing around 100-thousand people from their homes.
