Residents in the Wirkaleo Mapuche community and residents in Sauzal Bonito in Argentina’s northern Patagonia region have filed a lawsuit against the Neuquen Government for earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracking in Vaca Muerta. With the help of the legal team at FARN, the lawsuit would force the government to release information on seismic activity and conduct safety assessments on buildings in town, which weren’t built to withstand seismic activity. 

It’s taken Argentinian regulators 6 years to regulate this industry, despite common knowledge that fracking operations can trigger earthquakes. The government told residents that the ‘rumbling’ was natural when it began, but there had never been a record of Earthquakes beforehand.

“Word spread throughout the communities about the mechanics of fracking—the pumping, then extracting, at high pressure of millions of gallons of water mixed with toxic chemicals, sand and other additives to fracture rock so that hydrocarbons can be extracted. They also learned that fracking companies dispose of some of the hazardous liquid waste that flows back to the surface by reinjecting the fluid at high pressure deep into the Earth.” 

The toll has already taken hold. Cracked walls in houses, shattered furniture, rock slides crushing livestock, waking up in the middle of the night to TV’s smashing, unsafe drinking water, and the mental toll of ‘when will the next earthquake hit?’