Millions of people in China are at risk of flooding when the country’s cities collapse. It is “moderate to severe” in almost half of the cities.
The risk increases as sea levels rise, according to an analysis of satellite data from around the country released on Friday and cited by Reuters.
The authors of the paper, published in the journal Science, found that 45% of urban land in China is sinking at a rate faster than 3 mm per year, and 16% at more than 10 mm per year, which is to be paid reduction of underground water, but also construction load.
Since China’s urban population already exceeds 900 million people, “even if a small part of the land is submerged, it can pose a great threat to urban life,” said the team of researchers from South China University.
Land reclamation is already costing China more than 7.5 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) in annual losses, and over the next century nearly a quarter of coastal land could be below sea level , which puts hundreds of millions of people at even greater risk. floods
The northern city of Tianjin, home to more than 15 million people, has been identified as one of the worst affected. Last year, 3,000 of its residents were evacuated after a “sudden geological disaster” that investigators blamed on a lack of water as well as the construction of geothermal wells.
Many of China’s old coalfields have also suffered from over-mining, with authorities often forcing them to drop concrete into shafts to excavate the ground.
The problem is not limited to China. A separate study published in February said that around 6.3 million square kilometers of land worldwide were at risk. Among the worst affected countries is Indonesia, where much of the capital, Jakarta, is below sea level. Experts give the example of Tokyo, which sank about 5 meters until it banned groundwater extraction in the 1970s.
2024-04-21 19:45:00
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