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Russian City Ever Watchful Against Being Sucked Into Earth
Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the most expensive apartment ever sold in New York City — the $88 million penthouse at 15 Central Park West — and did much for local real estate values. But in Berezniki, the mining city where he made his fortune, properties have literally been plunging. 'Imagine putting a sugar cube in a cup of tea,' Mikhail A. Permyakov, the chief land surveyor for Uralkali, the company that owns the mine. 'That is what happened under Berezniki.' Berezniki is afflicted by sinkholes, hundreds of feet deep, that can open at a moment's notice. So grave is the danger that the entire city is under 24-hour video surveillance. In 2008 a government commission cleared Mr. Rybolovlev of wrongdoing, blaming past unsafe practices for the sinkholes. A senior official close to Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin says that Mr. Rybolovlev bears some responsibility, even though he sold the mine after the occurrence of the first great openings."
if one thinks the US has problems with wealthy, influential people, just look to Russia to see how bad it can get.
Everything but the kitchen sinking!
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
Sink holes are quite common in many places around the world. There are no mines under Centurion, yet a sink hole occurs multiple times per year in the dolomite areas.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Don't quit your day job
If you have one
“We will fight the holes with science,” the mayor, Sergei P. Dyakov, said in an interview.
Meanwhile in America, we hold prayer vigils for rain.
The year where an apartment in manhattan is sold for an amount that can feed a small country for a month.
Didn't anyone inform them that things tend to disappear in Russia? In this case, the entire city.
In the west you sink money into mining investments, in russia money in mining investments sink YOU!
So grave is the danger
I see what you did there.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Corporate profits always come first. Coal fires are a problem in some areas and at least one town had to be abandoned since the fires can last for decades and possibly centuries. Many towns had to be abandoned over industrial pollution and yet I constantly hear it's government regulations that cause the problems. How much of the planet do we sacrifice to greed? I'm not talking about halting progress this is about people cutting corners to make higher profits. Coal companies were supposed to have phased in safe guards to limit mercury and other heavy metals from being released but they ignored the regulations and now want them thrown out. A lot of cheap power depends on ignoring the problems it causes. In coal country areas near power plants have cancer rates through the roof. There's a price of pain and suffering. Often in the end the government ends up picking up the bill for health care and clean up. So long as corporations are protected and the people that run them are safe from being held accountable this will continue to happen. Change the rules and bankrupt the owners and corporate heads of the companies and see how fast it all changes.
"So grave is the danger that the entire city is under 24-hour video surveillance."
I guess London must be on its way down as well.
what's not to like?
In areas where sinkholes occur naturally, mining can make the problem much worse. Gold mining on the Far West Rand in South Africa caused a drastic lowering of the water table in the dolomitic limestone overlying the rocks containing the gold reefs, and this reactivated more less dormant solution cavities and led to an increase in the rate of formation of sinkholes at the surface. One of the worst was at the West Driefontein mine, where the crusher plant and a number of workers were lost. eeg.geoscienceworld.org/content/7/3/281.abstract
Sound likes Centralia, PA-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
Except without all the hellfire. And in Centralia they did do it to themselves by setting their own mine on fire. I didn't get enough info from TFA to have an opinion if the mines were done badly enough to reach criminal levels, especially since it's being caused by a natural process and they did try to stop it. If they do hold Rybo responsible, would it even be enough to help the town out?
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
As a Floridian, I can tell you this is made worse by water bottling operations, mining, bad agricultural practices and pollution. While they do occur naturally doing things that erode the limestone (acidifying the soil) or lower the water table (the water helps holds it all up!) really makes it more prevalent. Last year there were many sinkholes that opened up on the same day - all within about a 10 mile radius of the water bottling plant. Sure, you could say that could be a coincidence, but it isn't. This can be observed time and time again.
Get a web developer
In Soviet Russia, hole buries you!
Shouldn't it be;
In Soviet Russia, hole sinks you!
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
...is the best/worst example of a city that's sinking. Too many people, too much water being pumped out from under it. And the Aztec Gods are still mad about what happened to their people.
That was the point?
So, you get rid of the wealthy then everyone will be rich and there will be no crime?
Do I get a pony too?
No brain, no pain.