The Chinese local government said that thousands of people were evacuated from numerous high-rise apartment complexes in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin in recent days after land collapses created massive gaps in neighboring streets.
On Thursday, the Tianjin government announced, “Large fissures appeared on roads near a residential complex in Tianjin’s Jinnan district and geological experts believed they were likely caused by subsurface cavities below a depth of 1,300 m (4,270 feet).
According to the district authority, as of June 3, 3,899 inhabitants from at least three 25-story high-rise buildings had been evacuated to adjacent hotels.
The Tianjin government declared the incident a sudden geological disaster based on preliminary information from geological experts and multiple government departments who conducted surveying, mapping, and monitoring at the site.
“The situation is very rare”, said an expert who asked about the occurrence at the Tianjin government municipal headquarters.
The Tianjin government stated, “The drilling of geothermal wells could have resulted in soil loss and land subsidence in the area”.
According to the experts, the high-rise buildings facing the street were all hit to varied degrees.
Photos on social media revealed bowed and deformed roads, while others showed a portion of wall tile from a building collapsed on the floor.
The tragedy adds to concerns about building safety in China, where the government has implemented stronger rules and policies and imposed harsh penalties for poor property management.
Furthermore, the Chinese government has recently held a number of high-level meetings on geological and hidden disaster preparedness.
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