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| Sinkhole appears in Nậm Loỏng Commune in northern Lai Châu City after torrential rain. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Duy |
Viet Nam News
LAI CHÂU — At least five households in Sùng Chô Hamlet, Nậm Loỏng Commune, in northern Lai Châu Province, were evacuated on Thursday after a sinkhole with area of some 600sq.m appeared nearby.
The sinkhole caused cracks to develop in their house walls.
The sinkhole may have been caused by the collapse of underground karst caves as heavy rain has poured down in the city in the last few days. Karst topography is a landscape shaped by the breakdown of layers of soluble bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite, by the percolation of water.
Vice chairman of the city People’s Committee Lê Bá Anh said relevant agencies were closely monitoring the situation and taking measures to minimise the impact of the sinkhole.
“Work, including filling the sinkhole, if it is possible, will be completed within 30 days if the weather is conducive,” he said.
According to the committee, Nậm Loỏng Commune has karst topography, which affects a 5,000sq.m area and earlier destroyed a road leading to a school.
In the past three days, torrential rainfall has caused losses worth VNĐ2 billion to Lai Châu City, inundated over 260 houses and led to 10 households being evacuated to avoid landslides. — VNS
