Sinkholes in Japan swallows truck drivers and ensures fear among residents
Sinkholes in Japan swallows truck drivers and ensures fear among residents
The Japanese authorities have asked residents near Tokyo to leave their places of residence after a Schluckloch at a traffic junction on more than 40 meters wide. This makes it difficult for the rescue workers to search for an older truck driver whose vehicle fell into the hole.
The incident in Saitama
On Tuesday, part of a crossing opened in the Saita Prefecture, about 30 kilometers northwest of Tokio . A three-month truck and his 74-year-old driver were swallowed. The rescue operation is now ongoing the fourth day.
extent of the swallowing hole
The swallowing hole has now increased to a width of 40 meters - four times its original size, such a local civil servant compared to CNN. "The inside of the hole is constantly washed out and it gets bigger every day," reported a representative of the Department of Wastewater Management of the Saitama Prefecture.
rescue measures and challenges
The rescue workers used cranes to raise parts of the truck out of the hole and sent drones into the underground. So far, however, there has been no communication with the driver since Tuesday. The authorities believe that corroded wastewater pipes may have caused landslide. Delivering wastewater could continue to erod the surrounding ground and widened the gap.
A total of around 200 households have been asked to leave the region since Tuesday. In addition, 1.2 million residents were asked to do without showering and washing the laundry to reduce the amount of wastewater that the rescue measures could further complicate in the endangered area.
fears about old pipes
The sudden appearance of the swallowing hole has triggered fears in the densely populated region. Local residents said that they were worried about the labyrinth of the old pipes, which is located under their houses and shops. "I live near the area and have followed all the news reports. The moment when the hole grew up was really scary," said a user in the social media platform X.
emergency inspections arranged
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism from Japan announced on Friday that emergency inspections of similar wastewater pipes were arranged in Saitama and six other prefectures in which around 39 million people live.
causes of swallowing holes
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), swallowing holes can be found most frequently in areas that are underlaid by rocks such as plaster, limestone and other carbonate rocks, which can of course be dissolved by groundwater. A large part of the state Florida
Takashi Oguchi, a geographer from the University of Tokyo, explained that swallowing holes in Japan are rare because most roads are built on unpaved river and sea deposits. However, he pointed out that when a large underground water pipe was breaked, the escaping water could wash away these sediments and cause a swallowing hole. A large part of the public infrastructure of Japan was built between the 1960s and 1970s during the economic upswing after the Second World War when a large part of Tokyo was destroyed by American bombing. On Friday, the rescue workers worked at the traffic junction in Saitama with high pressure on reaching the driver enclosed under the asphalt. The rescue mission has so far been difficult because the original hole in which the driver fell into a nearby second swallowing hole is merged, which further enlarged the size of the swallowing hole. The driver is "buried in earth and sand, and if we use heavy devices near the asphalt, it could continue to catch up," reported an official. The rescuers plan to build a ramp to introduce heavy devices from a certain angle. "We are working hard to build the ramp and decided to complete it today," he added. risks in Japan
Current developments in the rescue action
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