Tragedy in Guatemala City

Guatemala City is a sprawling metropolis with high rise office and apartment buildings, restaurants, stores, and international banks and businesses. It is comprised of 22 Zones. The oldest area and the historical city center is in Zone 1 with newer areas growing outward from there. Grace and her foster family live in an apartment building in Zone 21. The main business area where the US Embassy, Citicorp, and the bigger hotels are located is Zone 10. There is a lot of volcanic activity in Guatemala and you can see the mountains and volcanoes surrounding the city in these pictures.

With a history of seismic activity under the city is not uncommon for residents to feel and hear the earth rumbling. But, I was shocked to find out that a giant sinkhole (over 300 feet deep) swallowed homes and killed at least two teenagers and one adult early Friday, January 11th in one of the older, poorer areas of Guatemala City. The disaster has been reported in the news (see MSNBC story) and apparently was caused by a clogged sewer main. There were recently rains in the area, and residents in the area had been feeling tremors for weeks. The city had even planned investigations and was considering a controlled explosion to clear the pipe, but it was too late.