Swedish Town To Move As Iron Mine Swallows It

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK, as Greensburg rebuilds from the ground up, people in a town in Sweden are preparing to move their community a couple of miles to the east.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

That be the town of Kiruna sits on the edge of an iron mine. Officials realized the mine would slowly swallow the community about 10 years ago, so they began preparing to empty the town and rebuild it - hopefully new and improved - two miles down the road.

INSKEEP: Work will include relocating more than 3,000 apartments and houses, a school and a hospital. An old church will be taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece.

GREENE: The move begins this spring but it's expected to take at least 20 years to complete. So for a generation to come, this will be a town in motion.

You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.

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