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The Puebla sinkhole swallows the adjoining house: only one room remains standing

2021-06-14T09:38:14.629Z


The brick and concrete house, whose farm owners had been evicted by the threat of the immense hole, almost completely succumbed in the early hours of Saturday, according to neighbors. The authorities assure that they will donate a safe land to the family and they will help it to construct another house.


There is hardly a room left standing.

The house of the Sánchez Xalamiahua family, which had been threatened for fifteen days by a huge sinkhole in an agricultural area of ​​Puebla, in central Mexico, fell almost completely in the early hours of Saturday, according to the testimony of neighbors cited by local media.  

The house had been evicted

by authorities after the hole was projected as a threat.

The sinkhole appeared on May 29 with just 5 meters (16 feet) in diameter, but it grew at a steady and rapid rate.

As of Friday, it was more than 125 meters (400 feet) in diameter in some places and it is estimated that it could be as deep as 45 meters (150 feet) at its deepest point, although it is difficult to know exactly since it is full of water.

The Mexican government had sent soldiers to keep onlookers 600 meters (2,000 feet) from the shores of the hole, into which two dogs fell in the middle of the week, and remained trapped for two days without food before being rescued on Friday. . 

“We are having a very difficult time.

We are hurt by our heritage, ”said Magalena Xalamigua Xopillacle, owner of the brick and concrete house that she saw gradually collapse into the hole.

"Sometimes we feel bad because of so much sadness."

The governor of Puebla, Miguel Barbosa Huerta, said on Friday that the Sánchez Xalamiahua family will not be left helpless, since the local authorities "will give them land on which the state government will build a new home in a safe area."

It is unclear how they will be compensated for their land and crops.

Scientists from the National Center for Disaster Prevention, the National Polytechnic Institute and the Autonomous University of Puebla carried out geophysical studies to determine the origin of the hole in these lands located 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Popocatepetl volcano.

His tentative conclusion is that it is the result of excessive extraction of groundwater by factories or a water bottling plant in the area.

But the bottom is full of water that seems to have strong currents, and the National Coordination of Civil Protection of the Government of Mexico has indicated that experts believe it was caused by some kind of underground river.

"It is highly possible that the origin of the sinkhole

is associated with the presence of underground water flows,

" according to Civil Protection.

This was the rescue of the two dogs that fell into the sinkhole in Mexico

June 11, 202101: 30

Barbosa, who described the sinkhole as a "matter of enormous risk", said that if it is due to the extraction of water, he will cancel the permits.

Neighbors of nearby homes have expressed concern about the tremors caused by the hole as it grows larger and larger and that they say is causing cracks in their homes. 

By mentioning the risk of more fractures in the land, authorities have

warned the population to stay away from the site

in the town of Zacatepec, east of Mexico City.

"It is not a tourist attraction, nor a place to visit with your family," underlined Civil Protection on Wednesday.

The authorities have put up metal fences and cordoned off the area to keep people away.

Drone flyby has also been restricted.

With information from Milenio and The Associated Press

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-06-14

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