Kala (TikToker)

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Kala (born 1985 or 1986) is an American TikToker known for her content surrounding the excavation of a tunnel under her house, [1] which has earned her the nickname "Tunnel Girl". [2]

Contents

Biography

Kala studied business and finance in college. [1] After graduating, she entered the information technology field as a software engineer. [1] [3]

She bought a two-story home in Herndon, Virginia in 2010. [3] [4] She previously built a two-story addition at the back of her house, with a basement and subbasement underneath. [1] [3]

Tunnel construction

In August 2022, Kala began construction on a storm shelter in her basement. [5] To prepare, she studied FEMA shelter guidelines and a civil engineering book titled Rock Mass Classification — A Practical Approach in Civil Engineering. [1] She began posting to TikTok about her tunnel construction in October 2022, telling viewers she was undertaking the project to challenge herself. [1] [6]

Kala's followers initially consisted primarily of electricians and mining and civil engineers. [1]

In the course of excavating under her home, Kala also found building stones, which she began to mine and save for later projects. [1] By August 2023, Kala had begun referring to the project as an "underground tunnel system", [6] and had built a makeshift elevator to remove rock and dirt from the tunnel. [3] Around the same time, her content had begun to reach more users, who expressed concerns about the safety and legality of her project. [6]

By November 2023, she had accumulated 330,000 TikTok followers. [1] At the time, she said she had spent about $50,000 on the project. [1] Although Kala had undertaken the majority of work herself, her friends also occasionally helped. [1]

On December 7, 2023, the tunnel was inspected by local building authorities [4] and declared unsafe, and Kala was told to vacate her home until an engineer could evaluate the structure. [7] In late December, concern continued to spread online regarding whether the tunnel could negatively impact Kala's neighbors. [6] On December 31, Kala announced on her TikTok that city officials had told her to halt construction. [6] She reassured her viewers that she would cooperate with a mandatory evaluation by an engineer, and would continue to pursue proper permitting. [6] At the time, she had more than 500,000 followers. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Tolentino, Daysia (2023-11-14). "This woman is building a tunnel under her house and documenting it. TikTok users have questions". NBC News. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  2. ↑ Holpuch, Amanda (2024-01-18). "The TikTok 'Tunnel Girl' Is Not Alone". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Olivo, Antonio (2024-01-04). "'Tunnel girl' gets heart emojis, sneers over mining project beneath Va. home". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  4. 1 2 3 Zheng, Lili (2024-01-02). "Virginia officials inspect TikTok tunnel girl's viral project". FOX 5 DC. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  5. ↑ Shouse, Meghan (2023-10-13). "Why Is This Woman Building a Secret Tunnel System Under Her Home?". House Beautiful. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bergman, Sirena. "How Tunnel Girl's DIY storm shelter took over TikTok — then turned people against her". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  7. ↑ Morales, Alise (2024-01-05). "Let's Dig (Back) Into the TikTok Tunnel Girl Drama". Jezebel. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
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