The German town that's literally cracking apart

The town of Staufen, in the south-west of Germany, has a problem: a drilling operation in 2007 that went very wrong. Half a metre of movement might not sound like much, but in this town, that's enough for the buildings to crack and fall apart.

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[DrPltypus]

If anyone wants to know what the poster at the end is saying:

Along with the cracks
there come the photographers,
the television cameras,
the radio.
Pictures of cracked walls,
gaping holes,
concerned people
are moving (i.e affecting in this case) the entire country.
And then they're all gone again.
Only the cracks are not.
And the holes.
And the people.
Staufen ''was'' not.
Staufen ''is''.
And in order for it to stay,
Staufen needs our help.

[Vogel]

Translation of the final Banner:

"With the cracks
came the photographers,
the TV cameras,
the radio.
Pictures of broken walls,
gaping holes,
worried people,
moved the whole country.
And then they're all gone.
But not the cracks,
and the holes,
and the people.
It's not "Staufen was",
it's "Staufen is".
And for it to stay,
Staufen needs our help"

Signed by two highly popular radio show hosts

[majingazetto]

I live in Germany and this never got to my attention until now. Wtf?

[Specoups]

And kids, that is why you don't ever want to dig straight down in Minecraft.

[hampusaberg]

This town is tearing itself apart, Lisa

[trumpdid]

A German town being split in two. Seems to be a reoccurring thing in Germany.

[henryreusch]

Just call Nestle, they will happily take all the water.

[jensraab]

Isn't it the same every time: industries are happy to keep the profits from whatever endeavor they are pursuing but if something goes wrong, the costs largely stay with the general public.

[Basssiiie]

Hey Tom, a similar thing is happening right now in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. It's the location of Europe's biggest gas bubble and the Dutch government loves to exploit it, yet all the drilling is causing earthquakes in an area far from any tectonic plate edge. It might be interesting to check out!

[kathrynblodgett]

That is terrifying. A whole segment of historic architecture could be lost.

[Dogeg]

€1 Million out of court settlement! They got off lightly there!

[jaspr]

I do respect the construction that all you have is cracks in the buildings. With that much shifting I'm surprised most of the buildings are still there.

[kingsinnlos]

"The germans delved too greedily and too deep. You know, what there awoke in the darkness of Staufen" - Saruman

[Ataurion]

Someone: tells a joke
This town: *Cracked up af*

[TomScottGo]

I did ask the local government if could get an interview, but alas, they weren't available on that day. If you have in-depth technical questions, pull down the description, I've linked to a great academic paper about it!

[VinnytotheK]

Wow, that's awful.
It seems like such a nice little city.

[infamedepatates]

Well, if the swelling gets out of control, they can always rename the town to Hohenstaufen

[jonesjohnson]

I lived about 30km from Staufen, when that happened, and not only there: A few km from where I lived, another geothermal drill caused several earthquakes and shaked my house.

As stated correctly by Tom, Staufen isn't very special, it's your typical medieval south western German town. However, almost everyone in Germany knew it even before the accident happened: Staufen is where Dr. Faustus lived, an alchemist reputed to have made a pact with the devil, and one of the greatest masterpieces of German literature, the play "Faust" by Goethe based on his life made this small town famous throughout the world.

[HmLys]

Staufen: Starts cracking
Staufen mayor: "Don't worry I'm an engineer!!" *attaches duct tape and hope the wall stays put*

[Elbrasch]

Moral of the story: Don't drill when you don't know what you are drilling into.