Boom in underground car-parks puts Moscow at risk of collapse
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow
14 September 2006

Geologists say that large parts of central Moscow are at risk of collapsing "like a pack of cards" because the ground under some buildings has been weakened by subterranean shopping centres and car parks.

There have been three incidences in the past week when the ground has simply opened up, pulling anything on the surface downwards. An entire section of the busy Leningradsky Prospekt - which is one of the main arteries in and out of Moscow - collapsed overnight, leaving a 32ft crater.