Enormous sinkhole wide enough to swallow the White House opens in Chile

Sernageomin, the country's National Service of Geology and Mining, says that there is a huge open hole on a plot of mining land.

In a rural area outside the town of Tierra Amarilla about 500 miles north of the capital city of Santiago, there is a 104 foot wide open hole. The White House is about 26 m wide and is about 85 feet long.

There is a hole on the site. No injuries or damage have been reported according to the Canadian company that owns the mine. A security perimeter has been placed around the site to protect it from outsiders.

According to Live Science,sinkholes are pits in the Earth that form over areas where water gathers underground without external drainage. Several studies have shown that there are Sinkholes near old and active mines. Cars, homes and streets can be taken down with the sudden opening of a sink hole.

The mayor of Tierra Amarilla, Cristbal Ziga, told a radio station that the mining operation has taken a toll on his community. According to Ziga, the mine has destroyed our houses and our streets.

Zuiga said, "Our greatest fear now is that this could happen in a populated place, on a street, in a school."

It was originally published on Live Science