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Homes of more than 600 million people could be submerged in the next 20 years
An estimated 1.2 billion people today live in areas that will eventually be razed.
The effects can be known in 20 years.
An area where nearly 10 percent of the world’s population lives may be under water in the next few years. Almost 1.2 billion people live in this area alone. The conclusion is drawn from an international study led by Spanish researchers. The phenomenon of subsidence is at stake, which can be proven by natural factors such as volcanoes or earthquakes, but also by the extraction of water or mineral.
To the Spanish newspaper “El País”, Gerardo Herrera-García, one of the authors of the study, assures that the most affected are arid areas and where periods of drought are observed. A map was also drawn up showing the areas most affected by the phenomenon, which are mainly on the Asian continent.
The map can be viewed online.
Even so, “El País” has the example of Lorca, in Murcia, where the ground sinks an average of five centimeters each year for the last 50 years. They even say that this is the most serious sinking event in Europe.
The urbanization of coastal areas and agricultural intensification are some of the causes that have accelerated the process in recent years. Climate change and dry seasons leave the soils more exposed to this phenomenon.
Another of the conclusions of the study, which was published in the scientific journal “Science”, is that within 20 years, more than 635 million people will be in already flooded areas. An online map was created with a color system where you can see the areas most affected by the subsidence.
A closer look at Portugal reveals that the phenomenon could occur mainly in coastal areas.
