The area around the town of Trzebinia has seen 20 sinkholes appear in the past two years and locals feel government is not doing enough to help.
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00:00 A closed mine in Chutki, one of many areas across Poland facing problems because of former
00:05 mining activities.
00:06 A bald patch in the forest showing where the ground has collapsed.
00:10 And there are more places at risk of sinkholes.
00:13 In Trebinje, some 270 hectares of land are in danger.
00:17 "Since last year, we have had a certain amount of land that is being destroyed.
00:22 And this is really a concern for the residents, because it concerns the areas where they use
00:27 the land for everyday use, whether it is a garden, a cemetery, sports grounds, sports
00:33 fields, tennis courts.
00:35 We also have our local cultural centre closed.
00:38 We are now exploring the areas near schools, as well as directly under people's houses,
00:43 because these lands also occur directly near houses."
00:49 People living in the area say that even going mushroom picking can be dangerous.
00:55 Entry into an increasing number of forests in the region is forbidden because of the
00:59 threat of sinkholes.
01:01 "We would like to get more information about this, so that people can feel safer.
01:10 There are more and more of these landslides, so it would be good to be up to date with
01:17 all this information."
01:18 Locals also say they are not getting enough help from the government and complain about
01:21 a failure to come up with long-term solutions.
01:24 When sinkholes occur, they are quickly filled, but residents say the underlying threat remains.
01:29 "The threat of landslides is being monitored on a regular basis, both in the case of siersia,
01:36 where the threat is higher, and these landslides unfortunately occur very often.
01:43 However, they may occur also in places where there have not been such examples so far.
01:51 In the case of Upper Silesia, the problem is not very big, but there are areas where there
01:58 was shallow exploitation, where the mining facilities were simply planted shallowly
02:04 underground, so the threat there will probably be greater."
02:10 The problem of sinkholes is often overlooked due to its regional nature, but it's a serious
02:15 concern for many inhabitants of Poland.
02:18 In towns such as Trzybinia, it is possible that this partial evacuation of the population
02:23 will be necessary.
02:24 Magdalena Wdownie, for Euronews, from Katowice.
02:27 Pizza.