Land subsidence is a problem in more than 70 Chinese cities, the
China Geological Survey, a bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Land
and Resources, said on Friday.
Shanghai suffers the worst land
subsidence in the country.
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The bureau has recently conducted a series of geological surveys
on the Yangtze River Delta, a major economic engine of the
nation.
The Delta, with Shanghai at its core, covers economically
developed Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province.
According to the bureau, the metropolis has been recording land
subsidence since 1921, at depths of up to 2.6 meters.
Another seriously affected area is the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou
city group in Jiangsu. About 5,700 sq. km of land, or half of the
total area of the three cities, has subsided to some extent, with
the deepest subsidence measuring 2.8 meters.
Tianjin, an economic center in northern China, has reported land
subsidence of 3.1 meters. Other cities suffering from the problem
include Taiyuan, capital city of north China's Shanxi Province, and
Xi'an, capital of northwestern Shaanxi Province.
Inappropriate siphoning of underground water and poorly
thought-out urban construction projects have contributed to land
subsidence, said Lin Xueyu, an academician with the Chinese Academy
of Sciences.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)
