45 sinkholes open up in Kaski, Nepal - 50 families displaced so far

Disaster-report.com
Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:58 UTC

At least 45 sinkholes have been reported in Armala in Kaski District of Nepal.

Sinkholes in Armala VDC of Kaski district have displaced more than 50 families in a week.

Sinkholes have swallowed several houses including household belongings like tables, chairs, kitchen utensils, and gas cylinders.

Nearby Riverdel School has also been closed due to the threat of sinkholes, Ujyaalo Online reported.

Geologists have concluded that Kaski, Nepal sinkholes have been caused as a result of haphazard construction of buildings.

Related post: Nepal natural catastrophes 2013

Comment: And then of course we shall have some more of the official 'go back to sleep, nothing out of the ordinary' comments, blaming the infrastructure.

This is the part of a report compiled by MyRepublica.Com

A report prepared by the geology department in 1998 had concluded that the area is not safe for human settlement.
The department had also urged the local authorities not to allow the local residents to construct more than one-story buildings in the area. Locals turned a deaf ear to the advice and went on to erect up to three-story buildings.

Similar report is prepared by Ekantipur.Com too

Meanwhile, the Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium, a unique platform launched in 2010 bringing together diverse partners working in disaster risk management in the country, has stated that urban populations are increasing people's vulnerability to natural disasters, specifically earthquakes as urbanization is being done in a haphazard manner with little planning and poor infrastructure. The concept of urban risk reduction is relatively new in the disaster risk reduction field, the consortium said.

Reader Comments

Beauzy · 2013-12-01T18:30:01Z

lol

The Nepal risk reduction consortium's spiel sounds remarkable similar to the assembly instructions I received with my eBay brought fabrique en China Christmas lights- illogical.

ge0m0 · 2013-12-03T14:02:18Z

Karst

It's a geologic formation of primarily limestone or other calcareous rocks. The limestone dissolves over time, depending on the amount and chemistry of groundwater flowing through the joints in the limestone. Construction activity definitely has an impact on how quickly solution cavities form in karst terrain. Urban runoff can concentrate in both quantity and acidity (carbonic acid) and accelerate the process. It's only illogical if you have layman's knowledge. And, yes, groundwater entering in an urban environment can travel great distances underground to cause solution cavities to form in a field that seems far removed from the apparent culprit.

If there is on issue I have with SOTT, it's "I'm a hammer so everything looks like a nail" syndrome. Some stories should be vetted by experts before claiming that the sky (or ground) is falling. The problem with this story is that there is no real data to evaluate the claims. It's equally un-scientific to claim that sinkholes are caused by construction in this case as it is to outright deny it because of bias that all sinkholes are what the Cs say they are. Critical thinking, please.

Laura · 2013-12-03T14:11:15Z

Fair enough

The problem is, there are SO many sinkholes appearing these days that it really is quite extraordinary. Just casually judging by the pictures, they don't seem to be related to construction since they are not pictured as near any structures. And 45 of them??

ge0m0 · 2013-12-03T15:44:13Z

Often in karst, there is a network of solution cavities that form a pattern. The, something triggers accelerated solutioning in parent rock, and that can be construction activity anywhere upstream of groundwater flow. None of this discounts that the earth may be "opening up". WRT to so many sinkholes, in urban environments, with degrading infrastructure and old stuff covered up by new stuff, it's not a surprise. Or, when a 100-year old water pipe leaks and washes away ground beneath a road, then the road caves in, that, in my view, is not the same as a sinkhole such as in karst terrain. All that said, no reason to think that some "enegetic" process is accelerating all kinds of deterioration, socially, physically, emotionally, geoligically, etc., etc. It is interesting to speculate.

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45 sinkholes open up in Kaski, Nepal - 50 families displaced so far

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