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The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
by Madison Bibbey
Staff Writer
With 537.7 thousand followers on TikTok, Kala the “tunnel girl” has been building a tunnel 22 feet below her suburban Virginia home.
In Oct. 2022, Kala started posting her excavation project on TikTok. Since then, her popularity has only increased. In addition to having half a million followers on TikTok, she has 8.72 thousand subscribers on YouTube. Her YouTube has four shorts and two videos, both under 10 minutes.
Her TikTok showcases her progress through a series of 75 videos, showing some accidents she’s had and even a small fire. She’s also taken ideas from her comments. In one video, Kala uses an idea on cutting rebar indoors that a commenter gave her. Kala has also shown off the elevator shaft she built that can haul up to 1000 pounds at once. She’s also installed electricity and ventilation systems in her tunnel.
Dr. Julian Brodie, a local resident who has a PhD in engineering, doesn’t believe Kala’s taken adequate safety measures. He says, “the biggest red flag from the project is that she didn’t get proper permits before starting her project.” Following that, Dr. Julian Brodie explained that “getting the proper permits is to ensure the work you are doing is safe and compatible with local regulations.” This was a concern many of her viewers shared as well. Commenter @ruimhend wrote “if it’s not hard to get the permits and approvals, why didn’t you do that first?” under Kala’s TikTok about her project being shut down.
Many viewers began to question what Kala’s qualifications were. In an article by NBC News, reporters discovered that Kala does not have “a formal background in engineering” but instead studied business and finance in school and works in information technology. She also has avoided answering questions about the permits she has.
Investigative reporter Aura Bogado decided to contact Kala’s neighbors to inform them of the situation. Many of her neighbors are migrants and expressed concerns about reporting Kala due to their fears of deportation to Bogado. However, some of Kala’s neighbors, after being informed, decided to file a complaint against Kala.
As a result, Kala received a stop work order on December 7, 2023. On December 28, she posted a dramatic reenactment to her TikTok. On Jan. 19, 2024 she posted a video of her doing puzzles and listening to records as she waits for permits. Then on Jan. 21, 2024 she posted a dramatic lip syncing video of her laying in the snow and staring longingly at the entrance to her tunnel.
This bizarre situation has left many people with questions and differing opinions. Sophomore Cami Matheny believes “the tunnel is going to make her house fall down,” which is a sentiment many share.
Some are also worried that her tunnel could compromise her neighbors' homes. Dr. Julian Brodie said that the stability of the tunnel is probably “not a major concern” for her neighbors. He also said, however, “the major ways her neighbors would be affected would be the dust, water, and noise pollution.” If Kala’s truly been honest about digging under her own property, her neighbors shouldn’t have to worry about the stability of their homes. However, other issues like noise, dust, and water quality could be a cause for concern.
Another potential issue that Kala hasn’t seemed to consider is radon. Radon is a toxic gas that is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers. According to the American Lung Association, in 2021, lung cancer amounted to 22% of cancer related deaths.
Kala’s home located in Fairfax County, Virginia is in a zone 1 radon level. Zone 1 is the highest potential in radon in the EPA system. In her videos Kala has showcased many of her safety measures including ventilation, however Kala hasn’t mentioned taking any precautions to protect herself from radon exposure. It’s also possible that she could be exposing her neighbors to additional amounts of radon.
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