Residents of Chrzanów and the surrounding area in Małopolska are fed up with “Janina”. This is a mine where coal is being dug deeper and deeper, and the consequences are more and more serious – cracking walls and annoying tremors day and night. On October 19, the shock level was over three degrees on the Richter scale. Even miners were withdrawn from the mine.
When the earth shakes several times a day, it turns life upside down. – We live like a bomb because we don't know when something might happen – says Mr. Artur, a resident of Zagórze. – We can't sleep, we can't rest. This amounts to harassment – comments Beata Wojciechowska, a resident of Chrzanów.
– There were 10 tremors in one day. The worst thing is that it happens three times a night. We are waking up. I'm mentally exhausted, says Katarzyna Kawałek, a resident of Chrzanów.
The walls of houses are cracking and the residents of the Chrzanów district – neighbors of the “Janina” mine – are losing their nerves. They complained about it in TVN's “Fakty” a year and a half ago.
They want to live without fear, they are planning a protest. “There are shocks every day”Renata Kijowska | Fakty TVN
On October 18, they experienced six tremors. The magnitude of one on October 19 exceeded three on the Richter scale and exceeded the residents' endurance limits.
– It seemed as if the entire ceiling was falling. The radiators were working, all the pipes were working – says Mrs. Maria, a resident of Zagórze. – On Saturday it was simply tragic: grandma, grandma, what's happening – Katarzyna Kawałek echoes her.
“We are terrorized by two thousand people”
All this a few days after an agreement with the residents that the mine would halve the output on the longwall currently being exploited.
– We are dealing with nature here, it cannot be programmed one to one. We hope that the effects of this slowdown will be visible soon – comments Paulina Mikołajczyk from Południowy Koncern Węglowy.
– The mine management said that we would have to get used to it. Well, I definitely won't get used to it, says Mariusz Gajewski, a resident of Zagórze.
– We know what people living near volcanoes or where earthquakes occur feel. We are terrorized by two thousand people who work in the mine, who believe that there is no life outside the mine, says Beata Wojciechowska.
Geology means that in this mine in Lesser Poland, unlike in mines in Upper Silesia, a large part of the energy from tremors “goes” not inside, but to the surface. Safer for the crew, worse for the inhabitants, and the lower the extraction goes, the more tremors.
– Our neighbors work here. No one wants anyone to lose their job, but no one wants their houses to fall down, says Martyna Cygan, a resident of Chrzanów.
– If there was no exploitation, there would be no shocks. However, this is coal for power plants. This is the largest mining plant in the district. Are we really ready for this, or if it's going to rain, do we take an umbrella and get a little wet? – answers prof. Marek Dla from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, member of the Rockburst Team at the “Janina” Mining Plant.
The umbrella is to dissipate energy, plant explosives and cause controlled cracking of the rock mass.
The mine assures that the tremors are not dangerous. But the more cracks, the more fear there is, also about the tightness of gas installations. – Everything is shaking and you wonder: will something fall off or not and how long will the structure in the house last – says one of the residents of Chrzanów.
Main photo source: TVN24