Cavernous Guatemala sinkhole prompts evacuations
A massive sinkhole that gulped down a clothing factory and an entire intersection in Guatemala’s capital is mystifying geologists who have yet to figure out what caused it.
“It’s the million-dollar question,” said David Monterroso, a geophysical engineer with the National Disaster Management Agency.
Nearly 100 feet (30 meters) deep and 66 feet (20 meters) wide, the hole formed during a deadly tropical storm in late May. Officials have not confirmed any fatalities, though neighbors say they believe a security guard using a public phone was sucked in and died.
One popular theory that has played widely in Guatemalan media is that flow from broken sewage ducts ate away at the earth until the ground above caved in. Another sinkhole that swallowed several homes and killed three people in the same area in 2007 was blamed on rain and an underground sewage leak.
But Monterroso said Thursday that not all the evidence is in.
“We could say the cavern formed because of leaky pipes, but it could also be true that when the cavern was forming, it created the fissures in the pipes.”
“It’s the chicken-and-egg question,” he told The Associated Press.
He said crews are waiting for needed equipment and will soon descend into the cavernous hole to investigate further.
Officials are still considering whether it can be filled, as a local cement company suggests, with a mix of cement and volcanic ash from the May 27 eruption at the nearby Pacaya volcano.
The government has evacuated everyone who lives and works near the sinkhole over fears it could widen, but officials say it’s unlikely any new holes will form.
Guatemalan chain Pollo Campero opens in Tampa in July
They have not advertised, and the new building next to Fiesta Plaza didn’t sport a Pollo Campero sign. Yet somehow the Central American community in the Tampa Bay area figured out a familiar fast-food taste is coming.
“We’re getting calls and people at the door asking when we open,” said Stephen Carlson, local operations director of a Guatemalan chicken chain with a cultlike following. “We open in early July.”
Fried chicken may not be a growth industry in today’s health-conscious society, so Pollo Campero is one of the few chains offering roasted items as well. It also was the first with a self-serve salsa bar, a tactic since picked up by Miami-based Pollo Tropical.
The Gutierrez family backed into the business after cash-poor customers at its general store in Guatemala traded chickens for flour. So in 1971 they added a restaurant.
Today there are 326 with sales of $400 million across Central America and the Caribbean. One of the busiest is in the Guatemala City Airport, where it’s common for departing passengers to fill carry-ons with Pollo Campero for homesick relatives.
The expansion followed migration patterns north to Los Angeles in 2002. Today, there are 50 U.S. stores.
The flavor’s not spicy, but distinctive. Credit a citrus marinade and Peruvian seasonings in the oven-baked chicken. The fried chicken is cooked in soy oil.
The chain is been no shrinking violet in real estate, either. Pollo Campero signed a deal to replace McDonald’s in Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. At 4060 N Armenia Ave., the first to open here is in the heart of West Tampa’s Latino community. The chain is looking to expand next into Town ‘N Country and eventually have five stores in Hillsborough County.
Guatemala storm rebuilding to cost up to $1 bln
President suggests transparency could help secure funds
* Bridges, roads damaged, coffee farmers hit
GUATEMALA CITY, June 14 (Reuters) – Rebuilding in Guatemala after a devastating tropical storm last month could cost up to $1 billion and the country must prove to international donors that it is making every effort to raise revenues through taxes, President Alvaro Colom said on Monday.
“We are getting strong support from the international community but Guatemala has to demonstrate that it has a high tax level and transparency,” said Colom, who is pushing for fiscal reform to help fund the national budget.
About 160 people died in Guatemala when Tropical Storm Agatha dumped days of rain on Central America in late May bursting river banks and causing mudslides.
Bridges, roads and more than 100,000 homes were destroyed Coffee farms were also badly damaged, which could reduce Guatemala’s crop by 3 percent.
Colom, touring one of the hardest hit parts of the country in the eastern department of Izabal, said it would cost between $650 million and $1 billion to repair damaged infrastructure.
Guatemala has received some international aid already — Japan donated $220,000 in equipment and building materials, the United States gave hundreds of thousands dollars in emergency relief and the European Union has pledged three million euros for the recovery effort.
Colom’s fiscal reform proposal, which includes raising income taxes, has faced stiff criticism from Guatemala’s powerful business chamber and opposition politicians.
The bill has stalled in Congress and will not be reconsidered until August. Guatemala has one of the lowest tax collection rates in Latin America.
“It’s no secret that Guatemala has stayed behind in the area of fiscal reform. We have to do something to prove ourselves to the international community,” Colom said.
The government could tap the central bank for a loan if needed.
Guatemala, which prides itself on high-quality coffee beans that can be sold for a premium price, saw its 2009/10 harvest at 3.76 million 60-kilogram bags before the storm.
Some ripening coffee cherries were knocked off of trees because of Agatha’s heavy rains and growers worry the humidity and wet conditions could further damage their crops with fungus. Coffee was also hit when the Pacaya volcano near Guatemala City exploded before the tropical storm spewing ash on farms
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