If Engineer Yue was worried about lingering just downstream of the dam that has been the focus of fears of catastrophic infrastructure failure caused by China’s earthquake, he was certainly not showing it.

Despite the large cracks clearly visible on the 156m-tall Zipingpu dam’s façade and reports that it might be unsound, Mr Yue said on Friday he was confident it had safely survived the 7.9 magnitude tremor that rocked the area on ­Monday.