Berliner Boersenzeitung - Japan's Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes

EUR -
AED 4.269858
AFN 80.389695
ALL 97.575354
AMD 446.887125
ANG 2.080805
AOA 1066.155881
ARS 1482.270607
AUD 1.77749
AWG 2.092781
AZN 1.969043
BAM 1.955306
BBD 2.349607
BDT 141.274317
BGN 1.956796
BHD 0.438489
BIF 3468.124018
BMD 1.162656
BND 1.493723
BOB 8.040969
BRL 6.488201
BSD 1.163706
BTN 100.181696
BWP 15.624054
BYN 3.808338
BYR 22788.064166
BZD 2.33751
CAD 1.596618
CDF 3355.426107
CHF 0.933298
CLF 0.029204
CLP 1120.676938
CNY 8.345489
CNH 8.349
COP 4675.918951
CRC 587.251671
CUC 1.162656
CUP 30.810393
CVE 110.237156
CZK 24.642464
DJF 207.017711
DKK 7.466231
DOP 70.282248
DZD 151.565717
EGP 57.459487
ERN 17.439845
ETB 161.69096
FJD 2.621676
FKP 0.86674
GBP 0.866975
GEL 3.1512
GGP 0.86674
GHS 12.131936
GIP 0.86674
GMD 83.128394
GNF 10097.449575
GTQ 8.934743
GYD 243.468504
HKD 9.124585
HNL 30.456307
HRK 7.535223
HTG 152.791408
HUF 399.058136
IDR 18984.143302
ILS 3.909926
IMP 0.86674
INR 100.161449
IQD 1524.414962
IRR 48962.365958
ISK 142.401981
JEP 0.86674
JMD 186.092996
JOD 0.824263
JPY 172.991051
KES 150.352024
KGS 101.6742
KHR 4663.822007
KMF 492.151837
KPW 1046.390713
KRW 1617.481043
KWD 0.355354
KYD 0.969755
KZT 620.363308
LAK 25095.661311
LBP 104268.063861
LKR 351.091321
LRD 233.321068
LSL 20.603896
LTL 3.433022
LVL 0.70328
LYD 6.329401
MAD 10.522742
MDL 19.795
MGA 5178.69196
MKD 61.544455
MMK 2441.242098
MNT 4169.117911
MOP 9.408024
MRU 46.291308
MUR 53.134905
MVR 17.974919
MWK 2017.890319
MXN 21.784576
MYR 4.936639
MZN 74.363938
NAD 20.603896
NGN 1779.991316
NIO 42.829182
NOK 11.842178
NPR 160.290514
NZD 1.950422
OMR 0.447147
PAB 1.163706
PEN 4.142254
PGK 4.818783
PHP 66.399534
PKR 331.423489
PLN 4.246227
PYG 9006.725072
QAR 4.231131
RON 5.074418
RSD 117.120418
RUB 91.406912
RWF 1681.575266
SAR 4.363132
SBD 9.648707
SCR 17.088084
SDG 698.172988
SEK 11.248915
SGD 1.493318
SHP 0.913665
SLE 26.627124
SLL 24380.326606
SOS 665.032026
SRD 43.260159
STD 24064.638741
STN 24.493813
SVC 10.182428
SYP 15116.689274
SZL 20.599797
THB 37.641015
TJS 11.200671
TMT 4.080924
TND 3.421036
TOP 2.723057
TRY 46.963445
TTD 7.900005
TWD 34.19337
TZS 3031.434317
UAH 48.599025
UGX 4169.94675
USD 1.162656
UYU 46.898154
UZS 14730.27941
VES 135.990147
VND 30415.089724
VUV 139.27412
WST 3.077437
XAF 655.79136
XAG 0.030458
XAU 0.000347
XCD 3.142137
XCG 2.09727
XDR 0.815594
XOF 655.79136
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.258475
ZAR 20.593492
ZMK 10465.304445
ZMW 26.794232
ZWL 374.374866
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Japan's Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes
Japan's Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes / Photo: STR - JIJI Press/AFP

Japan's Olympic pool-sized sinkhole highlights risk of old pipes

A massive sinkhole near Tokyo that swallowed a truck and its driver a week ago, and has filled with sewage and debris, highlights the risk posed by Japan's ageing pipes.

Text size:

Emergency workers have been striving in vain to reach the 74-year-old man, who rescuers have had no contact with for a week, and who was likely buried under sediment and sewage water in the sinkhole in the city of Yashio.

Officials say corroded sewerage pipes created the sinkhole that is now 40 metres (130 feet) wide -- nearly the size of an Olympic swimming pool -- and 15 metres (50 feet) deep.

Cranes have been mobilised and a 30-metre slope built to locate and reach the driver, with a second slope under construction, but progress has been slow and dangerous.

Koichi Yamamoto, an official with Yashio's fire department, told AFP on Tuesday that rescue efforts had been suspended.

A "substantial" amount of sewage water has accumulated at the site, eroding the surrounding soil and "constantly flowing in like a river", he said.

"This makes it impossible for us to proceed."

Also "hampering our rescue operation is a pile-up of heavy masses such as debris, slabs of asphalt and concrete that need removing", Yamamoto added.

When the hole suddenly opened up in Yashio, in the region of Saitama near Tokyo, during the morning rush hour on Tuesday last week, it at first looked like just one of thousands of sinkholes reported annually across Japan.

Their occurence is trending upwards in Japan, topping 10,000 in fiscal 2022, with many of the sinkholes sewage-related in urban areas, a land ministry probe shows.

- Ageing pipes -

Initially the hole was around five metres in diameter, then a much larger cavity opened nearby and the two holes merged.

To reduce the volume of sewage, locals were urged to "use as little water as possible" for three hours on Tuesday afternoon.

This was on top of requests already issued for about 1.2 milion people in Saitama to refrain from non-essential use of water, such as taking baths or doing laundry.

In response, some onsens have opened their public bath facilities for free to accommodate residents in Yashio and nearby areas, according to local media.

The week-long sinkhole saga was a reminder of the insidious corrosion gnawing at Japan's ageing water and sewerage pipes, Shinya Inazumi, a professor of geotechnical engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology, told AFP.

The majority of the underground infrastructure was developed during the country's rapid post-war economic growth.

"Many sewerage pipes in Japan have already outlived their service life (of 50 years) so pipes anywhere else could break due to ageing," Inazumi said.

In just over 15 years' time, 40 percent of Japan's sewerage pipes will have exceeded their lifespan, according to an estimate from the land ministry.

In Yashio, local authorities attributed the initial chasm to rusty, punctured sewerage pipes that absorbed the surrounding soil, creating a hollow under the ground.

Extreme weather events such as intense rain -- made more frequent by climate change -- can also exacerbate this kind of infrastructure failure, Inazumi said.

"Rainfall these days can be extremely heavy and localised, which means a great amount of water seeps underground," the professor said.

"The water gushes in at an incredible speed, accelerating the growth of an underground hollow by making it bigger and bigger through erosion."

(T.Renner--BBZ)