LAST EDITED ON Feb-06-06 AT 00:08 AM (EST)
>>Oh well. Some days it doesn't pay to give in to the temptation to
>>riff on an engineering failure.
>>
>
>It would be a pretty spectacular one, though, wouldn't it? The whole
>damn island would probably disintegrate/liquify/turn into mud and fall
>apart, or break at one of the weak points that's already sinking
>slowly and kind of slide off into the sea like everyone thinks is
>going to happen to California... I saw a show about Kansai airport on TV a while back (Discovery, TLC, one of those networks) - the dang thing is *already* sinking (or maybe just doing a lot of settling, depending on who's discussing it). They were showing how stairs that used to end at floor level in the basement now end some distance above the floor (they've put in additional "landings" at floor level so people don't hurt themselves on that last stairstep). IIRC, they were also showing the staff doing things with jacks. (The KIX official position on "settling" is at http://www.kiac.co.jp/english/land/010405.pdf)
According to http://airtransportbiz.free.fr/Markets/KIX.html, Kansai opened in 1995. By 1999 it had "subsided" over 8 meters (the initial estimate was only 5.8 meters total). It had also weathered a typhoon and the Kobe quake with only minor damage.
Jeanne
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia
