On the afternoon of September 22, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Bac - Chairman of Hieu Giang Commune People's Committee, Quang Tri province confirmed that a subsidence hole of unknown cause had just occurred in the area.
Previously, at about 1:45 pm on the same day, people on the inter-communal road An My - Ban Chua, the section passing through An Tuyen village, Hieu Giang commune, had a sinkhole.
The subsidence pit is located close to the roadside, about 5m away from some people's houses. The mouth of the pit is round in shape, with an area of about 1.5m2 and a depth of about 3m; below there are signs of widening in the form of a frog's mouth.
After grasping the information, the local authorities came to inspect. The incident is currently not threatening to neighboring houses. However, we have erected barriers and warnings to ensure safety for people when passing through this area, and at the same time reported to higher authorities to determine the cause" - Mr. Bac said.
Mr. Ho Quang Chien, a resident whose house is near the sinkhole, said that when he just woke up, he heard a loud noise. Running out to check, he discovered that a sinkhole had appeared near the road.
According to Mr. Chien, nearly 3 years ago, about 100m away from the current subsidence site, a similar subsidence hole also appeared but smaller in size. After that, the locality handled it by filling it with soil.
According to local authorities, the area where the subsidence just occurred previously did not have streams, streams or sewer systems.
Currently, functional forces are inspecting the scene, determining the cause and developing a remedial plan to ensure safety for people and vehicles passing by.
It is known that in the old Cam Lo district (Hieu Giang commune and Cam Lo commune today), many land subsidence cases have occurred before. In particular, in 2006, land subsidence occurred in Tan Hiep village (Cam Tuyen commune, old Cam Lo district) from February 18 to March 10, forming 52 large and small "sinkholes", the largest hole diameter is 25m, the average depth is 4m to 5m. This large subsidence has caused cracks and breaks in more than 60 houses and some works in the area.
After the serious land subsidence phenomenon occurred in 2006, the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) presided over and coordinated with the North Central Geological Federation and the Geological Physics Federation - to organize the task of research, survey, and measurement. Through research, it was determined that the causes of land subsidence included both objective factors such as geology, terrain, hydrology, unusual weather and subjective factors due to construction activities, sand and gravel exploitation; surface and groundwater exploitation.
