Geologists study Guatemala's sinkhole as thousands of flood evacuees return to their homes. Last week's tropical storm sent more than 3,000 people in search of shelter.
Guatemala's emergency management services (CONRED) workers monitor the sinkhole in Guatemala City Tuesday. The hole is estimated to be 66 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The sinkhole swallowed a three story building. A security guard who was on site is missing and believed to be dead.
CS Monitor reports, ""I can tell you what it's not: It's not a geological fault, and it's not the product of an earthquake," David Monterroso, a geophysics engineer at Guatemala's National Disaster Management Agency, told the Associated Press. "That's all we know. We're going to have to descend."
CONRED hasn't advised nearby residents to evacuate. Some of them are uneasy living in the vicinity of the crater.
A 2007 sinkhole in Guatemala that was similarly wide and deep was caused by subterranean water flow and leakage from the city's sewer system. The region is known for subterranean caverns and water flows that contribute to sinkholes. They are typically deeper and less broad than some sinkhole events that occur elsewhere. The Buzz Examiner covered a sinkhole story in Canada earlier this month with a similar photo gallery.
Comments
Not all of these photos are from the May 29, 2010 sinkhole in Guatemala City. Some are from a similar event that occurred in 2007...please update your post to reflect this
I take that back, I see that you mentioned the 2007 event - my apologies
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