Giant Sinkhole Swallows Guatemala Homes

February 26, 2007After rumbling for weeks, part of a poor Guatemala City neighborhood plummeted
some 30 stories into the Earth on Friday. The reportedly 330-foot-deep (100-meter-deep) sinkhole
swallowed about a dozen homes and is so far blamed in the deaths of three peopletwo teenagers,
found floating in torrent of sewage, and their father, who was pulled from the chasm.
Rainstorms and a ruptured sewer main may have caused the sinkhole, officials in Guatemala told the
Associated Press. After the collapse, the seemingly bottomless depths gave off tremors, sounds of
flowing water, and the scent of sewage.
Sinkholes can occur when underground rocks that can be dissolved by watersuch as salt, gypsum, and
limestoneare inundated. The removal of groundwater can also leave gaps underground that can lead to
sinkholes. While the cause of the Guatemala City abyss remains uncertain, it's effects are undeniable.
Police established a 500-yard (457-meter) no-go zone around the sinkhole, and nearly a thousand people
were forced to evacuate - some perhaps forever. "Last night a friend had to take my handicapped wife out
on motorcycle," 15-year resident Antonio Fuentes, 50, told the Associated Press. "Now I'm leaving for
good, never to come back."
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