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Giant Guatemalan 'Sinkhole' Is Worse Than We Thought

Posted by kdawson on from the series-of-pipes dept.

reillymj writes "Despite hundreds of media reports to the contrary, Sam Bonis, a geologist whose life work has been studying Guatemalan geology, has plainly said that the dramatic 'sinkhole' in Guatemala City that opened over the weekend isn't a sinkhole at all. Instead, he called it a 'piping feature' and warned that because the country's capital city sits on a pile of loose volcanic ash, the over one million people living on top of the pile are in danger. 'I'd hate to have to be in the government right now,' Bonis, who worked for the Guatemalan government's Instituto Geografico Nacional for 16 years, said. 'There is an excellent potential for this to happen again. It could happen almost anywhere in the city.'"

15 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Moving the country? by MalHavoc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Probably not even remotely possible due to its size, but a similar problem seems to have been created in Kiruna, in Sweden. The town sits on top of the world's largest iron ore mine, and the mine has created a large cavity under the town. They are moving everything, in some cases, literally brick by brick. There's a neat article about it in this month's National Geographic.

    1. Re:Moving the country? by nightfire-unique · · Score: 5, Funny

      Probably not even remotely possible due to its size, but a similar problem seems to have been created in Kiruna, in Sweden. The town sits on top of the world's largest iron ore mine, and the mine has created a large cavity under the town. They are moving everything, in some cases, literally brick by brick. There's a neat article about it in this month's National Geographic.

      I dunno why, but I suddenly pictured a bunch of embarrassed Swedes whistling as they quietly move the town over a few hundred meters.

      --
      A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    2. Re:Moving the country? by Cheeko · · Score: 5, Informative

      Having just gotten back from Guatemala, you already see a fair amount of the "squalid children with big eyes huddled under sodden tarps" even if not in the urban centers.

      The country has some pretty significant poverty/living condition issues and the city is one of the BETTER parts of the country. Any sort of relocation project is entirely impossible given the finances and state of the nation.

      The issue really is that any sort of infrastructure project might be equally crippled. This in many ways reminds of the situation in Haiti prior to the earthquake. They know they are in a hazardus environment, but the lack of ability to implement anything in terms of building code or infrastructure programs means that prayer and luck are the only options.

    3. Re:Moving the country? by Dogtanian · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I remember learning about England during the Industrial Revolution. [..] Somebody asked "If it was so horrible for the factory workers why did they all go there" The teacher made the point that as bad as the factories were, it was still better than farming.

      It's not quite as simple as that. In the case of England during the Industrial Revolution, the inclosures act(s) effectively made it more difficult for people to earn a living on the land as they had done previously, and increasingly forced them to move into cities to undertake industrial work. The Marxist interpretation is that the government was effectively legislating people off the land and into the capitalist system.

      I'm not saying that working on the land was an easy option by any means- only that saying that people left it entirely of their own free will is misleading.

      Some may argue the same thing happens nowadays when people leave farming to take up city-based factory work in third world countries- there is an active external force/agenda (e.g. those international bodies wishing to force through capitalist/free-market reforms by tying aid or loans to them) coercing people into the industrial option by making the old way of doing things unworkable.

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  2. Re:Look on the bright side by Barrinmw · · Score: 5, Funny

    This was the perfect opportunity for him to make a pun. "There is an excellent potential for this to happen again. It could happen almost anywhere in the city.' Should have been "I have a sinking feeling that this could happen again."

  3. Errr... yeah by DavidR1991 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article's title (Don't call it a sinkhole) is certainly on the money. I was shocked. If you haven't read/looked at the article, do. I was expecting, you know, a little crater thing or something. This is far, far beyond that. It is literally a massive cylindrical hole. It's amazing.

  4. Flikr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The full size version of that photo thats always on the front page of this story is on flikr:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/gobiernodeguatemala/4657053554/sizes/l/

    Amazing, it looks like something out of a scifi movie. Did the death star missfire?

  5. Centralia by adeft · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in PA we have a town called Centralia that is over an active burning coal fire. I believe it has been burning for over 50 years. The town was considered unfit to live in and everyone was encouraged to move. There are still some stragglers remaining, I believe the population is about 5 people. You can still walk/drive through it, but at your own risk as sink holes are a huge issue. If you can ignore the rediculous pop-ups pictures of what a zombie apocalypse might look like here

  6. It's not a sinkhole by GungaDan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Goatse recently moved to Guatemala City.

    --
    Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
  7. Re:Piping Feature? No... by thijsh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think you are confusing it with this... look at the photo, if any feature on the earth ever looked like a gate to hell it's this fiery pit. :-)

  8. This is Guatemala City! by dorkinson · · Score: 5, Funny

    A group of Iranian visitors inspecting the hole claimed that it was "madness", but they were quickly dealt with.

  9. When I started here all there was was ash! by RevWaldo · · Score: 5, Funny

    All the other mayors said I was daft to build a city on top of ash, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em!

    .

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
  10. Re:Look on the bright side by matrim99 · · Score: 5, Funny

    After seeing that amazing picture and realizing that it wasn't a really bad Photoshop job, I almost expected the headline to read "Higgs Boson Found!".

    --
    Right. No, your other right. No, the other other right.
  11. From Guatemalan point of view by denn1s · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm from Guatemala. This is actually the second (and smaller) sinkhole. The first one was located not too far away, http://conred.gob.gt/galeria/fotos/fotografias-de-incidentes-1969-2009/640x480Hundimiento%20Barrio%20San%20Antonio%20Zona%206%20102%202007.JPG/image_preview and happened last year. However, earth just doesn't open, first huge rumbling sounds begin, then, after a couple of weeks, earth opens. Also, we have already pinpointed possible new sinkhole locations, one which is barely 200mts from the last one. Now is just a matter of time to see if the government does something, which is unlikely.

  12. Re:Piping Feature? No... by laejoh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Naa, just a lame knockoff of goatse!