Inefficiency blamed for sinking landforms
Print Edition
Poor management of underground space is the reason for the rising number of subsidence cases in Chinese cities.
In Nanning, capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, three cases of sinking land have been reported since the beginning of August. The city reported 25 cases from May to July, according to official statistics.
Elsewhere, four people were trapped in a hole after land near a convenience store sank in Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province last week.
At a national seminar last month, experts pointed out that urban cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Harbin suffer from land subsiding. Harbin reported seven cases within eight days in August 2012, which left two people dead and two injured.
Statistics showed that more than 50 cities in 20 provinces and regions in the country have reported subsidence cases.
Subsidence, which mostly occurs at major road conjunctions, can cause damage to a city’s transport networks.
“Land sinking is highly unpredictable and could cause casualties,” said Hu Chunlong, a senior engineer at Guangxi’s regional institute of geological and prospecting engineering.
Sarcastic residents use the Chinese term “zoulusi,” meaning “death while walking,” to vent their anger.
Government officials have blamed abnormal weather and geological changes for the holes, but experts claim the causes are due to mismanagement of underground development amidst fast urbanization.
Luo Guoan, a researcher with the sociology department of Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said giant city projects, such as the construction of subways, involve fast-paced underground development, but management fails to keep up. He said current development is not very well organized, and many projects are carried out in a disorderly manner, creating lots of “road black holes.”
“For example, if several underground pipelines need to be updated, it is hard to coordinate with the working staff because they are ‘only committed to their designated work,’” Luo added.
He said many old underground pipelines are not updated in time, and that has resulted in water leakages, which softens the ground and leads to subsidence.
Luo said substandard work is also to blame, as many workers fail to check if there is soft soil after construction.
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