Rahul Somvanshi
Giant sinkholes are threatening to swallow parts of Buriticupu, a town of 55,000 people in the northeastern Brazilian Amazon. Local authorities declared a state of emergency in February 2025 as soil erosion has expanded dramatically in recent months.
“In the space of the last few months, the dimensions have expanded exponentially, approaching substantially closer to the residences,” stated an emergency decree issued by the city government.
About 1,200 residents now face potential displacement as the sinkholes continue to grow. Several buildings have already been destroyed, and entire streets have disappeared into the widening chasms.
A Decades-Long Problem Worsening
The crisis didn’t happen overnight. Residents have watched these sinkholes, locally known as “voçoroca” (a word of indigenous origins meaning “to tear the earth”), develop over the past 30 years.
Antonia dos Anjos, who has lived in Buriticupu for 22 years, lives with constant fear. “There’s this danger right in front of us, and nobody knows where this hole has been opening up underneath,” the 65-year-old resident said.
The problem has escalated dramatically. In just the last decade, a single sinkhole has consumed three streets and more than 50 houses. Some sinkholes have merged to form ravines up to 20 meters deep.
Nazaré Feitosa, a safety technician living near the craters, described the psychological toll: “It’s very scary. Sometimes I pray to God that it doesn’t rain so hard, there are times when I even ask Him for forgiveness.”
Perfect Storm of Environmental Factors
According to experts, the crisis stems from a combination of factors:
Marcelino Farias, a geographer and professor at the Federal University of Maranhao, explains that heavy rainfall accelerates the problem. “The problem becomes worse in periods of heavy rain such as the current one,” Farias noted.
The situation is made worse by the region’s sandy soil, which is particularly prone to erosion. Poor urban planning, inadequate drainage systems, and ongoing deforestation have further destabilized the ground.
Most neighborhoods in Buriticupu are built on inclines and slopes, making them especially vulnerable to erosion. When it rains, water flows through muddy gullies, rapidly washing away soil.
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Municipal Capacity Overwhelmed
The local government has evacuated residents from high-risk areas but lacks resources to address the root causes of the problem.
Lucas Conceição, Buriticupu’s secretary of public works and an engineer, admitted the limitations: “The municipality clearly does not have the capacity to find solutions for the complex sinkhole situation. These problems range from the erosion processes to the removal of people who are in the risk area.”
Despite declaring a state of public calamity, officials can do little beyond ensuring evacuated residents have temporary shelter and can relocate to safer areas of the town.
Future of the Town in Question
Some residents worry about the town’s very existence if the sinkholes can’t be contained.
“It’s a good town, a beautiful town, but in the way things stand, in a few years it will even be at risk of extinction,” said Carlos Martins, a businessman and resident of Buriticupu.
Another resident described the nightly vigilance during rainstorms: “When it rains, it’s so scary that no one sleeps here, we stay awake all night listening to the ground collapse. Sometimes I get up to look and check if it’s happening close to our house. If it is, we have to evacuate.”
The emergency decree identified 16 sectors as high-risk areas for sinkholes. Without significant intervention, experts fear the situation will continue to deteriorate as climate patterns shift and rainfall intensifies.
