Hello, everyone.
This is Enta.
It seems there was a slope collapse the other day.
If you watch the video, you can see that the collapse started near the top of the slope.
Unfortunately, it seems some people have been affected by the disaster, so I hope they take good care of themselves.
Could this disaster have been prevented?
I'm going to try to think about that.
That said, I’m not actually involved, and this is just my opinion based on watching the video.
As you can see in the video, the slope is collapsing from the top after the formwork was installed.
Actually, collapses like this are quite common at disaster sites.
At first glance, it appears that the slide is originating from a point about 2 meters back from the surface of the slope following the collapse.
I'm sure you understand this well as a slope contractor, but,
There's no way I could ever know (or understand) if this is going to fall apart.Right?
Slope maintenance crews generally decide to remove loose material (thin layers) first when cleaning slopes, since it looks like it might collapse.
The golden rule is to let it fall first if it looks like it's going to fall.
We'll also remove loose rocks and other debris as much as possible.
But there's no way to know that it would collapse from deeper inside, like it did this time.
If the mountain is this unstable, they must be driving anchor pins from the top down to stabilize the mesh.
So that means it didn't fall apart then, right?
People who aren't familiar with mountains often say that you should thoroughly inspect the natural terrain, but,
In our line of work, things don’t collapse in increments of 1 cm or 2 cm—they collapse from 1 m, 2 m, or even deeper inside.
From a slope engineer’s perspective, it’s like, “There’s no way I can see that far back!!”
I imagine you're wondering, "Did the safety officer check it?" but,
It would be so much easier if I could just check it and find out.
It's the same at a site I worked on previously.
Just as we finished installing the formwork and were putting up the formwork frames, the structure collapsed from above.
It's impossible to predict when something will collapse.
There are plenty of mountains that continue to crumble even after construction is complete.
It's not that we don't inspect it, but if there are no abnormalities at first glance, then the checklist is fine...
It's hard to make a judgment based solely on an inspection of the natural ground, isn't it?
I think it’s truly a blessing in disguise that there were no fatalities in an accident like this one.
As a future challenge, I’d like to think about what kinds of measures we can take in situations like this.
See you later.
