Chile: luxury buildings that are in danger of collapse due to the increase in sinkholes

The sound of the rain was getting louder.

It was night and Tania couldn’t see what was happening outside her apartment. But she heard how the water dragged stones and rocks.

Suddenly, the intercom in his house rang. It was the janitor to warn him that he had to move his car as soon as possible because the basement of the building was flooding.

“When I arrived, there were already 4 cars underground. It was a horrible image,” he recalls in conversation with BBC Mundo.

Tania Eterovic lived in the building Eurovistalocated in an affluent sector of Reñacain the Valparaíso region, in Chile.

The building is part of a housing complex built on a dune field with sea views, where some exclusive apartments can cost up to US$1.4 million.

The property where Tania lived was affected by tons of earth that fell from a huge sinkhole 30 meters deep which was formed after the intense rains recorded in the sector during the early hours of last Sunday, June 9.

The sinkhole occurred specifically under the swimming pool of another building, called Euromarina IIlocated a few meters above the Eurovista.

Given the emergency, that night the authorities had to evacuate the residents of the 87 apartments of Euromarina II. Tania also evacuated and tried to help her neighbors.

A little more than a week after the episode, last Tuesday the authorities of the municipality of Viña del Mar They declared the Euromarina II uninhabitable due to “risk of collapse and collapse.”

According to a report from the Housing and Urban Planning Service (Serviu) of the Valparaíso Region, the sinkhole could affect the structural stability of the property despite the efforts that have been made to try to stop the release of material.

The Serviu information also points out that the terrace has presented “minor declines” that are being monitored.

This is not the first time that a sinkhole has formed in the area as a result of heavy rains. Last year (2023), there were two similar events.

The first, which occurred in August, affected a building called Kandinskywhich is located in the north of the dune field (a little more than 1 kilometer away from Euromarina II), and was declared “totally” uninhabitable by local authorities.

The sinkhole formed a few meters from the property’s pool, destroying the adjoining streets.

The second, which occurred a month later, in September, affected another building, called Miramar, located a few meters from the Kandisnky. It was also closed as a precaution.

Days later, the authorities had to extend the security perimeterevacuating residents of three other buildings.

According to experts, there are several factors that explain the increasingly common formation of sinkholes in this area. One of them is the collapse due to lack of maintenance of water collectors, responsible for draining water from buildings.

But they also have something to do with decision to build housing complexes on dunes (something that has no restrictions by law in Chile) and climate change.

It should be remembered that real estate development in the Viña del Mar and Concón area began in the 1980s. Some of the affected buildings were built in the last 20 years.

Carolina Martinez, academic of Geography at the Catholic University of Chile and director of the Coastal Observatory, led an investigation that examined the causes of the sinkholes that occurred in 2023.

In conversation with BBC Mundo, he explains that “in Chile we have a rule that allows the survey of real estate projects. in ecosystems that should be protectedlike these dunes.”

“The regulatory plan for the area, which is very old, allowed all these buildings to be built in the form of terraces, and the dune was considered a static hill of rocks. But this is sand. Although compacted, it is still sand and is highly sensitive to drainage,” he adds.

The geographer affirms that in the past there were studies that warned about the high fragility of dunes when subjected to loads, such as those of 20-story buildings.

“But they were not taken into account”he indicates.

For Martínez, Chile urgently needs a Coastal Law -which is currently being processed in Congress- that regulates the occupation of its coasts and protects high-value ecosystems.

But why are sinkholes forming now and not before?

According to Carolina Martínez, “in the last 10 years the Chilean coast has undergone a very profound transformation as a result of extreme events associated with the climate change”.

“We are coming from an intense drought but in the last 2 years there have been very heavy rains, much more than we saw before,” he says.

Hermann Mariquezgeographer and academic at the Catholic University of Valparaíso, agrees.

“The rainwater evacuation works were not built thinking that we were going to have rains as torrential as these,” he tells BBC Mundo.

“Today climate change is expressing itself: The dry period is becoming longer and more intense, and the winters are becoming intensely rainy. So the works have not been enough,” he adds.

The residents of the affected buildings have complained to local and government authorities but also to the construction companies in charge of building the buildings.

In December 2023, 16 owners of the Kandinsky filed a lawsuit against the construction company Besalco seeking to obtain financial compensation. The judicial action continues in processing.

At the same time, Jessica LopezMinister of Public Works in the government of Gabriel Boric, has asked the construction industry to assume its “responsibilities.”

“I refuse to say that only those responsible are the parts of the State that give their authorization (to build) as if the private sector had no responsibility,” he said recently on Radio Universo.

The construction union, however, has defended itself by pointing out that the accusations against it have no technical basis since these real estate projects have been raised “under the current housing regulations and respecting all the requirements of the legislation and construction in this type of surfaces.”

For her part, the mayor of Viña del Mar, Macarena Ripamonti -who belongs to the ruling Democratic Revolution party (RD)-, has pointed out the authorities who preceded her.

“There was no concern due to lack of vision, purpose and responsibility of authorities who were there for close to 20 years,” Ripamonti told Chilevisión on June 16.

He added that “regarding our investigation and reconstitution of background information, there would be some type of error, negligence or malicious and unjustified acts regarding the construction of these buildings.”

The mayor also stated that “no more buildings will be built” in this area.

But what will happen to the more than 30 buildings that are already built in the dune field? It is a question that worries authorities and experts.

The main fear is that They continue to form more and more sinkholes.

And, according to the experts consulted by BBC Mundo, due to climate change, the rains may not decrease in intensity but quite the opposite.

“The risk of collapse exists and that is why the evacuation of some buildings has been decreed,” says Hermann Manríquez.

“It is a dangerous situation that must be monitored closely. The Euromarina II building was left without support and the weight and pressure could make it collapse,” he adds.

The residents of the housing complex, meanwhile, look with dismay at what is happening.

Tania Eterovic decided to end her rental contract. At the end of June she has to move all her things out of the apartment at Eurovista.

“I don’t want to evacuate or be isolated again… and winter in Chile is just beginning,” she says.

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