Undermining China: towns sink after mines close
Deep in the coal heartlands of northern Shanxi province, people in Helin village are fighting a losing battle as the ground beneath them crumbles: patching up cracks, rebuilding walls and filling in sinkholes caused by decades of coal mining. Mines that burrowed under villages and towns during China’s three-decade coal boom have left the authorities with the need to evacuate hundreds of communities in danger of sinking. Shanxi province alone plans to move 655,000 residents by the end of next year from unsafe old mining regions, with the cost of relocation estimated at $2.37 billion. The Shanxi government estimates coal mining has cost the province 77 billion yuan in “environmental economic losses”.
