Teh One Who Knocks
07-24-2011, 01:36 PM
Sky News
http://i.imgur.com/zgCRz.jpg
A grandmother in Guatemala City has had a lucky escape after a huge sinkhole suddenly opened up under her bed as she slept.
Inocenta Hernandez woke up on July 18 to discover she was lying just inches above a 12m (40ft) deep sinkhole.
Mrs Hernandez was startled by a large booming sound which she thought was a gas explosion outside.
The sound was actually the earth under her bed imploding to create a deep and almost perfectly circular hole.
If the pit had been a few metres larger it may have swallowed the pensioner as she slept.
http://i.imgur.com/oJKw5.jpg
The 65-year-old said: "My son was crying because you never expect something like that in the bedroom.
"When they raised the bed and I stood by this big hole my son then said that we have to call the firefighters because they need to come.
"Thanks to God and the holy Mary that nothing bad happened, it was an accident."
In the weeks before the pit appeared neighbours had reported hearing strange sounds coming from the earth and now fear further implosions.
Guatemala's national disaster relief agency have come to Mrs Hernandez's home to investigate the sinkhole and determine if there are any risks to residents in the area.
Investigator David De Leon said: "The whole city rests on volcanic material which means that some areas are not stable."
Sinkholes, formed by the natural process of erosion, can be gradual but are often sudden.
Guatemala City is especially prone to them.
They are often blamed on a leaky sewer system or on heavy rain.
In 2007, the country's largest sinkhole swallowed homes and a truck and killed three people as the ground suddenly gave way.
In 2010 a three-storey building was swallowed by another massive sinkhole.
http://i.imgur.com/zgCRz.jpg
A grandmother in Guatemala City has had a lucky escape after a huge sinkhole suddenly opened up under her bed as she slept.
Inocenta Hernandez woke up on July 18 to discover she was lying just inches above a 12m (40ft) deep sinkhole.
Mrs Hernandez was startled by a large booming sound which she thought was a gas explosion outside.
The sound was actually the earth under her bed imploding to create a deep and almost perfectly circular hole.
If the pit had been a few metres larger it may have swallowed the pensioner as she slept.
http://i.imgur.com/oJKw5.jpg
The 65-year-old said: "My son was crying because you never expect something like that in the bedroom.
"When they raised the bed and I stood by this big hole my son then said that we have to call the firefighters because they need to come.
"Thanks to God and the holy Mary that nothing bad happened, it was an accident."
In the weeks before the pit appeared neighbours had reported hearing strange sounds coming from the earth and now fear further implosions.
Guatemala's national disaster relief agency have come to Mrs Hernandez's home to investigate the sinkhole and determine if there are any risks to residents in the area.
Investigator David De Leon said: "The whole city rests on volcanic material which means that some areas are not stable."
Sinkholes, formed by the natural process of erosion, can be gradual but are often sudden.
Guatemala City is especially prone to them.
They are often blamed on a leaky sewer system or on heavy rain.
In 2007, the country's largest sinkhole swallowed homes and a truck and killed three people as the ground suddenly gave way.
In 2010 a three-storey building was swallowed by another massive sinkhole.