Chinese village’s sinkhole nightmare continues with kitchen floor collapse
Coal mines ‘part of the problem’ as authorities promise help for displaced villagers after 32nd subsidence since August 2023
A woman returned to a small village in southwestern China to find her kitchen floor on the verge of collapsing, just before the latest sinkhole – one of more than 30 recorded in the past 17 months – in the area opened up beneath her home.
The Baxiangping community within Xiangping village, northeast of the Guizhou city of Fuquan, was declared at risk of a geological disaster in May, with two reports blaming a combination of depleted groundwater, caused by mining and heavy rainfall.
According to the online Red Star News, resident Hu Yuzhen returned home on December 9 after several days away to find that the cement floor of her kitchen had cracked and sunk, with sounds of ground movement below.
She went to fetch the village’s geological monitor and by the time they got back to the house a hole had opened up measuring two metres (6.56 feet) wide and three metres deep, the Chengdu-based news outlet said in a report on Sunday.
It was the 32nd sinkhole recorded in the Baxiangping group of karst formations – the distinct, erosion-prone terrain that is known for land depressions and subsidence – since August 2023.
Most of the sinkholes appeared in the village’s surrounding fields, especially during the April flood season and throughout the summer, with the city’s natural resources bureau finding in May that both natural and man-made factors were responsible.
Villagers also reported other signs that changes were occurring below ground, including the drying up of springs that were previously used for both drinking and irrigation.
