(Maceió) The “imminent” collapse of a salt mine in Maceio, in the north-east of Brazil, raises the risk of an immense “urban tragedy” according to the authorities and the surrounding population has already been evacuated.
The mayor of the capital of the state of Alagoas Joao Henrique Caldas spoke on Friday on CNN of an “imminent” danger and the “largest ongoing urban tragedy in the world”.
According to Civil Protection officials, preventive measures have made it possible to protect residents, but they will not avoid the ecological disaster.
Thousands of families were again displaced on Wednesday, a relocation process that began in 2019 as soon as the risks in this area were established.
The threatened neighborhoods where some 55,000 people lived in more than 14,000 residential buildings are empty.
Most of the mine is below sea level and its collapse risks having significant effects on the environment.
To explain the phenomenon, Civil Protection took the image of a sink from which the drain is suddenly removed: a huge quantity of salt will in fact flow suddenly into the water and disrupt the marine ecosystem.
Land movements around the mine accelerated its subsidence. Its level has fallen by 11.4 centimeters over the last 24 hours, again according to Civil Protection.
And since November 21, the area has sunk by 1.43 meters, indicates the same source.
The salt mine in question, which produces rock salt (used to make sodium hydroxide and PVC), is one of 35 that the Braskem company operates in Maceio. The company’s majority shareholder is Novonor, formerly Odebrecht.
Braskem assured on its site that it was taking “all possible measures to minimize the impact” of a possible collapse, predicting two scenarios: a “gradual” or “abrupt” subsidence.