Giant sinkholes spread in Turkey, killing farmers and swallowing up their land

After the earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, a 30-yard-deep rift was formed along the fault. Olive groves were split in two.

Turkish farmer Fatih Sik was drinking tea “when he heard a rumbling sound outside that grew to a loud boom, like a volcano.” Through a window, he saw water and mud shoot dozens of feet into the sky, 300 feet away. He knew what was happening, because it often happens in Konya, an agricultural region known as Turkey’s breadbasket. A giant sinkhole had opened on his land. 165 feet wide and 130 feet deep, it appeared a year after a previous one had formed on his land, reports The Guardian:

Sik was born on the farm he now owns, which his father ran before him, yet he says scientists have told local people the area is no longer livable. One house nearby has collapsed into a sinkhole. “Every night I pray before I go to bed and when I wake up I pray again,” said Sik. “I live in constant fear that a sinkhole will take my house.”

Konya gave life to ancient civilisations, including what is believed to be the world’s first agricultural society in about 8,000BC….Now, though, the land is drying up. Turkey is on the brink of a major drought crisis…

Sinkholes are appearing in farmland in the region at an increasing pace. Experts say there are now almost 700, causing uncertainty and devastation for the farmers there….Konya has always been geologically prone to sinkholes because much of the region lies on bases of limestone and other soluble rocks, but in recent decades intensive agriculture has led to heavy groundwater extraction for irrigation. As water tables drop, underground cavities lose the support that once held them up….

Sik used to water his crops with additional groundwater once in spring and twice in summer, but now there is so little rain he waters five times, then 10. “Ten years ago, we only had to go 30 meters down to find water. Now, it’s 90,” he says.

There are 100 sinkholes in his neighborhood, by his estimates. Two swallowed a beetroot field he owned, costing him about £17,000 a year. He estimates he would need 6,000 trucks of sand to fill in his land so he could use it again.