While St. Lucia has been gripped with the SCHOLARSHIP SAGA, there were reports of a landslide in the Tapion area. Unfortunately for the second time in the last five years, the residents of Tapion are faced with this nightmare.
For the entire week, the radio and television carried this issue with the scholarship with the ‘gusto’ that is only seen on CNN when there is BREAKING NEWS. We were told of midday deadlines that were constantly ‘rising’ from the dead and changing to new dates. A saga indeed.
There was a bit of anger on my part as I believe that there is a crossover point from passionate pursuit to reckless abandon. Dr. King had crossed that dangerous point on this matter. One is of the opinion that responsible leadership demanded that the parents of these young teenagers should have been consulted.
The parents should have been advised as to the cost of studying overseas at this particular institution and the challenges they will face in supporting their children. It is a simple principle that is found in the scriptures – counting the cost. It is irresponsible to suggest to these youth that the provision of a guarantee by GOSL is the panacea for their education dreams.
As was stated, some are from poor backgrounds, with parents who have struggled to send them even to Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. How can these parents provide support to tertiary level education in expensive Illinios?
In the midst of this matter, I looked at the website of the Illinios Institute of Technology, and the impression I got was that the 79 students were being nominated for scholarships and the university will decide from those applications who will be awarded scholarships. I truly believe these youth were given a roller-coaster ride.
Now that this is over, I believe that attention should be given to Tapion to avoid further disaster. I visited the site and saw the level of destruction, and the first thing that came to mind was whether this could have been avoided.
There seems to be a response by various government departments to dealing with the effects and not the problem. I can relate to four such scenarios in recent history:
- Morne Du Don Landslide
- Maynard Hill – Trou Rouge Landslide
- Tapion landslide
- Destruction of Culvert crossing – La Toc
There was a landslide in the Morne du Don area over 15 years ago, that caused some panic among the residents. Many houses were affected. The response was immediate by the government departments and some relocation and assistance were provided. However, the root cause was not addressed. The absence of proper drainage systems in this informal settlement continued.
Almost 8 years later another slide occurred in the Maynard Hill- Trou Rogue area. Again the effects were dealt with, people were moved and works were done to arrest the movement. Once again the fundamental issue of the absence of drainage in an informal settlement was not addressed.
About two years after the Maynard Hill slide, the slide at Tapion came. Again the same was done, relocate the residents, build a new road. No attempt was made to address the causes of the landslide.
When you remove the many complex calculations in civil engineering, the practice of civil engineering is based on some fundamental concepts of the behaviour of materials. Once you understand and respect these fundamental concepts, you will succeed in your efforts in dealing with nature.
I visited the Tapion area and noticed that the area of the landslide suggests that it was once the natural watercourse for the upper reaches where the present Police training facility is located. There is a drain at the base of the hill behind the pre-school on one side, and there is no defined channel for the runoff from the hillside on the other side.
The area is a sponge for the runoff from the upper reaches. The simple principle is that this water increases the weight of the affected soil, the water causes the soil particles to easily slide over each other , and the increased weight increases the sliding movement.
There was a rush to build a new road, but there was not the follow up to fix the problem. The same issue can be seen on the La Toc road near the port gate, where some two years ago during the hurricane season, part of the culvert collapsed. To this date nothing has been done to this culvert. Should we await the next storm event which will wash away the culvert and cause massive dislocation of traffic ? This is the only road for commercial vehicles to move from the North to the South of the island, it is strategically of great importance.
There has to be a fundamental shift in the thinking of the Government Departments. “ FIX IT” is the only way to go. You look not only at the symptoms but at the causes of the infrastructural sickness.
For Tapion, I would suggest the following approach:
- Mobilize an excavator and develop an earthen drain to take the runoff on a temporary basis down to the bottom road.
- Immediately start the drainage works at the base of the cliff
- Utilize the excavator with trucks and remove all the soil that is now saturated, started from the south side of the road and moving northward
- Construct a gabion retaining wall to support the road to be reinstated
- Backfill behind the gabion wall with new granular material
- Construct new road side drains
- Pave roadway
The above if well planned can be completed in less than three weeks.
I urge the Ministry of Communications Works Transport and Public Utilties to address the situation at Tapion urgently to mitigate the destruction, and I make a plea as a resident of La Toc to fix the culvert on the La Toc road.
Those in the Ministry with the institutional memory, would recall that in 1989 this culvert was affected, unfortunately at the same time there was work ongoing at Hospital Road causing the road to be closed. There was a crisis caused by the road failure on La Toc and a mad rush to place temporary slabs to reopen Hospital Road. Since I can’t swim, I can only plead to fix the culvert so my journey home will always be possible.