Predicting landslides

STANLEY WHARTON

THE DRY season is in full swing and following the drought would be periods of excessive rainfall with its deleterious effects on the land in the form of landslides.

The North Coast Road to our major beaches and tourist attractions at Maracas, Las Cuevas and beyond continues to be at risk of landslide activity. This situation existed since the construction of the single coastal routeway, and up to today, with increasing vulnerability to climate change effects.

If we judge by the increasing severity of rainfall and resultant landslide activity during the last quarter of 2022, then we should be bracing for a continuation of the same. To date, based on the hundreds of landslides in TT, and using newspaper reports, only a few of these landslides have been repaired. Numerous unrepaired landslides still exist across the country, including along the Lady Young Road leading into the capital city, which have not been cleared from events in 2022.

This year, in commemoration of Earth Day today, a new study to predict landslides along the North Coast Road using a digitalised system is promoted to develop predictive capabilities, especially where landslides have impacted the routeway over the last 36 years.

The purpose of the study is to utilise legacy, comprehensive landslide data, first mapped in 1987, to create a larger database using a digitalised field-mapping system for landslide management and prediction.

This project is being launched as a public service initiative by the Subsurface Imaging Company and would involve assessment of the geological, geotechnical, engineering characteristics and remedial designs.

The study considers that a landslide is not a point on a map, but a phenomenon generated by a complex interaction of the geology, geotechnical characteristics, and anthropogenic factors, whose information is needed before applying engineering design for rehabilitating landslides.

Climatic effects have been recognised as providing high impacts on landslide occurrence over time and the increasing intensity and duration of rainfall will also be considered.

So far, a database of at least 100 landslides, with over 32 from the North Coast Road alone, exist as legacy data collected in 1987 for a previous study. This information will be corroborated with new field information and the result is expected to be the development of a prediction system for landslide planning and management.

Digitalisation techniques will be prominently applied during field collection and analysis, and the applications will further be considered for adoption of a countrywide landslide mapping system.

For companies, this study may be considered as part of an ESG initiative and interested parties are invited to partner on this project as a worthy initiative as it relates to climate change and its impact on infrastructure.

The project is launched on Earth Day in keeping with the main theme of the organisers of the Earth Day initiative, which is to educate on the impact of degradation of the planet and in particular deforestation and land loss. Contact details for further information are as follows: stanley.wharton@subsurface-imaging.com for .

“Earth Day is a day to celebrate the planet and to take action to protect it. It is a reminder that we all have a role in protecting the environment and can make a difference. The theme for Earth Day 2023 is Restore Our Earth, which focuses on the need for global co-operation to tackle the environmental challenges facing our planet.”