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.
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
RSS