LETTER OF THE DAY - Geotechnical engineers needed
Published:Monday | December 27, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
The geographic location of Jamaica renders the country susceptible to various natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and landslides. Each year, billions of dollars are spent on repairing infrastructure damaged directly or indirectly by these phenomena.
The parish councils are responsible for approving the development of sections of land. One has to ask what criteria they utilise, because on numerous occasions after structures are constructed, within a year or two, large cracks begin to occur, the foundations of buildings begin to collapse, and in some cases, the entire building is lost. This is all due to a lack of investigation of the engineering properties of the earth materials and how they would interact in a proposed construction.
This could, however, be significantly reduced if the Government put in place the required expertise to deal with this problem.
One can tackle this by looking at the field of geotechnical engineering. Specialist engineers in this area specialise in the engineering behaviour of earth materials. This encompasses an assessment of the risks to humans, property and the natural environment from landslides, stability of natural slopes, earthquakes, sinkholes and rockfalls.
Site investigation
In all developed countries, it is mandated that before any construction takes place, the designated area must undergo a site investigation of the soil, bedrock and fault distribution to determine its feasibility. The relevant authorities within Jamaica need to look into implementing an agency to deal specifically with problems of this nature. This would also be in keeping with Jamaica's goal of Vision 2030.
I am, etc.,
ROLDANE SENIOR
Santa Cruz
St Elizabeth