Secular ground movements, a danger to be taken into account

As opposed to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, which occur suddenly and by the release of the Earth's internal energy in a short period of time, other natural events are generated slowly and cumulatively, over tens and thousands of years.

Among those, PhD in Sciences and Academician Manuel Iturralde Vinent, one of the most renowned Cuban specialists in geological issues, mentions the secular movements of the ground.

He points out that they take place at speeds measured in millimeters per year, eventually cause changes in the relief and affect buildings, coasts and river courses.

Consequently, Iturralde Vinent (Cienfuegos, July 10, 1946) author of, among other works, Aventuras en las cavernas de Cuba(Adventures in the Caverns of Cuba) and Compendio sobre Geologia de Cuba y el Caribe (Compendium on the Geology of Cuba and the Caribbean), advises that before building, a specialist or several specialists should be consulted, if possible.

The recommendation will allow the interested party to place the foundations affirmed in hard rock, to avoid humid, sandy and clayey soils, and to make sure that he is not building on a cavern, for the sake of his own integrity and that of his relatives.

It will impose him of the importance of placing the house out of the gullies and dry riverbeds, and well distant of the very strong slopes and coastal cliffs.

With a series of booklets entitled Protect your family..., the author warns about landslides and debris flows, which he describes as "natural phenomena that transform the landscape through the displacement of volumes of rocks and soils", together with block falls, soil flow and other processes.
They are typical, he says, of mountainous regions, cliff coasts, mountain roads, mines and quarries.

As an example of the above, the graphic material accompanying this text includes the large landslide in a section of the Guantanamo-Carolina-Palenque highway, in the mountainous municipality of Yateras.


The origin of the accident was "the conjunction of geological and topographical factors, according to experts who analyzed the event, which occurred on November 5, 2006, which reached a depth of eight square meters and a half of the important road.
This fact sheds light on the strength and danger of these "landscape-transforming" events, in conjunction with quantities of rocks and soils worthy of a better cause.

Another corollary emerges from reading "Protect your family from":

"Even if you own the safest home, do not neglect yourself if you live in a territory with a danger of landslides, mudslides or other similar phenomenon. And what is much more important: Be prepared!".
Prevention is the only way to avoid disasters.