In Ecuador, the sinkholes regularly make the headlines and affect 22 of the country’s 24 provinces. It is these chasms which, for natural reasons or not, suddenly open up in the ground, sometimes in the heart of cities. Since the start of the year, 93 sinkholes have been identified, compared to 59 in 2020 and 74 in 2019.
With our correspondent in Quito, Eric Samson
The latest sinkhole destroyed half a dozen houses and a road near the Andean village of Chimbo last Wednesday. The land subsidence took place in the middle of the night, causing panic among the population.
Most of the time, the sinkholes occur for natural reasons, torrential rains, the drying up of water tables, the collapse of underground caves. Sometimes it is the man who is primarily responsible.
Two weeks ago in the south of the country, houses and schools collapsed in Zaruma, a small town built on 50 km of tunnels built by underground gold diggers.
At the start of the year, Ecuador’s most famous waterfall disappeared, as tourist guide Jairo Cabrera reminds us: “ I was on my farm and was surprised to see a hole ten meters in diameter in the bed of the Coca River. Then he passed thirty meters … and the second week, the San Rafael waterfall disappeared “. The guide declares that he can no longer make a living from his profession. ” I lived off tourism but not anymore since the disappearance of the biggest and the most beautiful waterfall in the country. “
The San Rafael sinkhole has since caused a phenomenon of regressive erosion that destroys the banks of the Coca River and threatens the survival of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, Ecuador’s main one.