Look out, below. A massive sinkhole in Guangzhou, China, swallowed up buildings and knocked out power to thousands of residents.
According to Shanghaiist, the sinkhole is about 3,230 square feet and plenty deep. A video shows a crowd milling about the sinkhole before it expanded, causing a building to crumble as if it were detonated.Neighboring buildings were evacuated and streets were blocked by police. "Gas could be smelt from over 30 metres away, and deafening noises could be heard as the land continued to crack and sink," the Shanghaiist reports.
Sinkholes are, unfortunately, nothing new. According to the U.S. Geological Survey,
some sinkholes are human-induced. "New sinkholes have been correlated
to land-use practices, especially from groundwater pumping and from
construction and development practices." They also occur in areas where
the rock beneath the land surface can be easily dissolved by
groundwater.
Human-induced or not, sinkholes are getting a lot of press these days. In China's Guangxi province last year, a sinkhole formed after a local school dug a well to ease its water shortage. Business Insider
reports that in Beijing, massive bomb shelters, "constructed amid fears
of an impending nuclear attack during the height of Chinese-Soviet
tensions," may be contributing to the problem.
But they certainly aren't limited to China. In 2011, a Florida sinkhole
gobbled up "a garbage bin, an oak tree, the back wall of the building
housing a salon and racks of supplies." A woman in Guatemala City
discovered a 3-feet-wide, 40-feet-deep sinkhole beneath her bed. And in Ohio, a massive sinkhole caused part of a state highway to collapse.
