A worker looks at a flooded area in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, on April 24. A Newsweek map shows where subsidence is sinking cities fastest, heightening the risk of flooding.

Land subsidence is overlooked as a hazard in cities, according to new research. Scientists used satellite data that accurately and consistently maps land movement across China. Skip to main content.

A perfect storm is brewing for China's cities due rising sea levels and accelerated subsiding land. Scientists have now sounded the alarm that, without intervention, urban areas below sea level ...

The study found that the United States, China, and Iran account for most of the global groundwater storage loss, with some regions experiencing more than 5 cm/year of land subsidence.

China has a long history of dealing with subsiding land, with both Shanghai and Tianjin showing evidence of sinking back in the 1920s. Shanghai has sunk more than 3m over the past century.

Like in other countries, many regions in China are gradually depleting their resources due to years of coal mining, resulting in large areas of subsidence. Research data and expert estimates from the ...