A Tongan Japan based resident has described an impressive maintenance work on a giant sinkhole in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka as “maʻa lahi moʻoni” (impressively splendid).
Viliami Sinalī Lātū, a three-time former World Cup rugby player tournament for Japan said the massive cave-in appeared on the busiest road in the area near Fukuoka’s main railways station.
Local media reported the horrifying moment hit on November 8 at around 05:00 local time in the city’s bustling Hakata district, a major business and entertainment centre.
No one was hurt in the collapse, but local media reported disruptions to electricity, gas and water services.
Lātū said they thought it could take the Japanese construction workers two months to fix the chasm.
However, the massive sinkhole, which measured 30 meters long, 27 meters wide and 15 meters deep was completely fixed within a week.
According, to Japan Times online the fast recovery work was attributed to the use of special expertise.
The quick rebuild attracted global media’s attention.
CNN’s Euan McKirty wrote: “Giant sinkhole in Japan repaired in matter of days”
In his opening sentence he said: “In the end, it disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared”.
UK’s The Sun published a video of the incident and described it as “An amazing timelapse video has revealed how construction workers in Japan managed to pave over a giant sinkhole in just a week”.
