A major ecological disaster is threatening a rugged stretch of Spain's northwestern coastline, and the people of La Coruna and the neighboring communities have no one to blame but themselves. A millionton mountain of garbage, the area's accumulated household trash of more than two decades, is collapsing in a landslide that some locals say they had predicted for years. On September 10,the advancing trash swamped one of the villages from which it emanated, killing a resident. Now it threatens to pollute the sea that provides the livelihood of many people in the area.
The avalanche began when deep fissures appeared in the Bens municipal dump. Heavy rains or perhaps a seismic disturbance are being blamed for the instability.However,the top has always leakrd streams of foul-smelling liquid--evidence, some say,that it had poor drainage--and began to collapse on its own liquefying innards.
What officials now fear is that the rest of the mountain may come crashing down, burying everything in its path and stopping only when it reaches the Atlantic.
Last week,despite efforts to build dikes and remove surface garbage, the fissures continued to expand at an unrelenting rate of 0.5 cm per hour. With the crisis showing no sing of abatement, the mayor prtitioned the Spanish government to declare his city a national disaster petitioned the Spanish government to declare his city a national disaster petitioned the Spanish government to declare his city a national disaster area.