Sinking further

"Sink holes are natural depressions in the land’s surface caused by the removal of underlying soil or bedrock by water. Varying in size from less than a metre to several hundred metres in diametre and depth, they swallow up whatever was resting on them previously. Dozens of farmers and their families have had to be evacuated from areas close to the Dead Sea after an increasing number of sink holes appeared, some five meters wide and equally deep. There are around 800 sink holes on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea that have appeared over the past decade and nearly 1,200 on the Israeli and Palestinian side. "A lot of farmland is being abandoned. Farms are being destroyed. Even houses and factories have been evacuated because of the sink holes," said Mehyar. " (Thanks Marcy)

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86137