On March 3, 2018, the ground shook in Maceió, the capital of the northeastern state of Alagoas and a Brazilian tourism hotspot.
Thousands of people heard a loud bang and felt buildings rattle. Cracks began to appear in several buildings. Craters appeared on the streets of various areas.
Almost six years after that tremor, which measured 2.5 on the Richter scale, Maceió braces for an unprecedented urban tragedy.
The tremors and cracks resulted from geological instability created by abusive salt-mining practices by Braskem, Latin America’s largest petrochemical firm.
Braskem owns 35 salt mines around the region of the Mundaú lagoon, which was once a fishing hotspot and one of the city’s tourist attractions. Its subterranean salt-mining caves are located underneath densely populated areas. One of its mines is expected to collapse at any point — opening an enormous crater in Maceió.
Although the area above the tumbling mine Number 18 covers 116,000 square meters, it is impossible to calculate the size of the hole that the mine’s collapse would open — it could be smaller or larger.
The soil in the region had given way by 1.86 meters between November 28, when the monitoring began, and December 5. The ground is sinking at an average speed of 0.27 centimeters per hour. Although the pace has slowed from nearly 5 centimeters per hour on December 2, authorities say a collapse could happen at any time.
Images show that the dry area of the mine is being increasingly occupied by water from the Mundaú lagoon. Despite the reduction in the sinking rate, which could lead to a gradual stabilization of the area, local authorities maintain the collapse warning.
Since March 2018, over 60,000 people have had to leave their homes, and at least 4,500 lost their businesses as five neighborhoods in Maceió turned into ghost towns.
In 2019, a study by the Brazilian Geological Service confirmed that abusive salt mining practices were the main cause of soil instability in the region (read more in the timeline of events below).
That same year, Braskem ceased its activities and began to closely monitor the closure and stabilization of its 35 mines in the region, all with an average depth of 886 meters, while trying to reach an agreement with federal and state prosecutors to compensate the affected populations — as well as the municipality of Maceió.
Through wells, the company used water at high temperatures and pressure to dissolve the salt. The resulting saltwater was pushed up and over the sides of the well to the surface, where it was extracted.
However, the process of dissolving the salt leaves holes in the rock, which can...
Search
