Thousands of residents in China’s Shanxi province have been evacuated as villages next to mines have started sinking, after decades of reckless coal mining
After decades of reckless coal mining and lax enforcement of environmental legislation, 655,000 residents in the Shanxi province in northern China will be moved by the end of 2017, at a cost of 15.8bn yuan (£1.7bn) as villages begin to sink and houses subside. Many villages have already been abandoned, deemed too unsafe, while residents in others shore up walls with tree trunks and attempt to fill the sinkholes caused by years of irresponsible mining processes. The move is part of China’s plan for “green development”, which has seen it spend billions on renewable energy projects such as solar panels that are now being used to power homes across China.