The city of Buriticupu, in the northeastern tip of the Brazilian Amazon, is being slowly swallowed by the earth. In the past few weeks, huge sinkholes, several meters deep, have led the municipal government to declare a state of emergency.
About 1,200 people of the 55,000 population are at risk of having their homes tip into the widening abyss.
“In the space of the last few months, the dimensions have expanded exponentially, approaching substantially closer to the residences,” an emergency decree issued by the city government earlier this month said about the sinkholes.
Photo: Reuters
Several buildings have already been destroyed, the decree said.
The recent sinkholes are an escalation of a problem that residents of Buriticupu, in Maranhao state, have been watching unfold for the past 30 years, as rains slowly erode soils made vulnerable by their sandy nature, plus a combination of poorly planned building work and deforestation.
The large soil erosions are known in Brazil as “vocoroca,” a word of indigenous origins that means “to tear the earth” and is the equivalent of sinkholes.
Photo: Reuters
The problem becomes worse in periods of heavy rain such as the current one, said Marcelino Farias, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Maranhao.
Antonia dos Anjos, who has lived in Buriticupu for 22 years, fears more sinkholes will soon appear.
“There’s this danger right in front of us, and nobody knows where this hole has been opening up underneath,” the 65 year old said.
Buriticupu Secretary of Public Works Lucas Conceicao, an engineer, said the municipality clearly does not have the capacity to find solutions for the complex sinkhole situation.
“These problems range from the erosion processes to the removal of people who are in the risk area,” he said.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
RSS