Turkey: Hundreds of massive sinkholes emerge sparking speculation about link to Biblical prophecy
Hundreds of sinkholes, some more than 30m wide and 60m deep, have been rupturing the earth, leaving some to speculate it could be an ominous warning.
Turkey has been beset by an accelerating rash of sinkholes that have forced famers to abandon their land and left locals fearing their homes will be swallowed.
Twenty new sinkholes have been detected in the Konya region this year alone.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Prior to 2000 only a handful of sinkholes appeared every decade but that has increased massively recently, moving some to point out the links to a harrowing biblical story.
In the Book of Numbers, chapter 16, the ground opens up as divine punishment for the rebellion of Korah and his followers against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
Some believe this story and what is happing in Turkey is a warning that “God is on the move”, Daily Mail reports.
But, far from a religious cause, sinkholes form when cavities in the bedrock collapse.
Scientists say Turkey’s multiplying sinkholes are thanks to prolonged droughts and groundwater use for irrigation.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority has reported 648 sinkholes in the Konya region, with farmers forced to abandon high risk areas and locals left fearing their homes will be swallowed.
There have been warnings that similar incidents of sinkholes could emerge in the US, Asia and the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Australia where declining groundwater levels are a problem.
In Buriticupu, Brazil some 1200 people were considered at risk of having their homes tip into a growing number of sinkholes.
“In the space of the last few months, the dimensions have expanded exponentially, approaching substantially closer to the residences,” an emergency decree issued by the city government in February said.
Several buildings were swallowed.
It was seen as an escalation of a problem that residents had been watching unfold for the last 30 years, as rains slowly erode soils made vulnerable by their sandy nature, plus a combination of poorly planned building work and deforestation.
The large soil erosions are known in Brazil as “voçoroca”, a word of indigenous origins that means “to tear the earth” and is the equivalent of sinkholes.
— with Reuters
