Securing our foundations - the Peter O'Connor column

The interesting feature about all the photos and videos of the collapsing condominium in St Joseph was the fact that the building looked surprisingly intact even as it teetered on its side, waiting to slide down the slope.

From that alone I was able to conclude that, but for the foundations, the building was properly built. And this fact, or rather the fact that the foundations were obviously inadequate, should guide us in our wider development initiatives.

And the “foundations” of our development initiatives must be acknowledged in terms of our lands, our forests, wetlands, and water resources, not in the concrete we pour into the ground or along our river beds. For without these, our “original” resources, we have nothing upon which to build the physical infrastructure of our society.

If we continue to destroy our forests and mountains, to turn stone into concrete for the waterfront and smelters, and we continue to bury our wetlands to build malls and smelters, then we would have built a house like the one now being demolished in the Maracas Valley.

The incident in St Joseph is only the first of many such building and apartment collapses we shall witness over the next few years. These will not be Acts of God, nor attributable to “exceptionally inclement weather”, although the latter will be the catalyst for what we shall experience.

We have, through our insistence upon installing the trappings of development before the foundations of development, brought upon ourselves the flooding, the landslips, and the road and bridge collapses which are disrupting lives, commerce and transport throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

The denuding of our hillsides for mass development are the prime causes of serious flash flooding in the valleys below the developments. The fact that roads and house sites are cut for maximum density rather than geological stability contribute to future collapses and landslips.

The removal of all the tree cover ensures that every drop of rain rushes off rooftops, into drains and roads and then floods the silted valleys below. And all of the water rushing down is silt-laden from the denuded spaces between the houses. 

All of this contributes to the flooding below, and loss of potable water by the persons who live below these “developments”.

Quarrying in these valleys also creates the same problems loss of forest cover, massive rain-water run-off, silting of rivers, and even of the river outflows into the sea, and ultimately the loss of all of our underground water sources.

Our aquifers, the underground storage reservoirs of clean fresh water, depend upon the forest cover to retain the water in canopies, ground leaf cover and root systems. 

This water filters slowly down to the plains below the valleys. When the rain can only rush out of the hills, via naked slopes and concrete drains, then none filters down into our aquifers, and one day we will run out of water even as we fight flooding.

If we continue to “develop” our country without regard to ensuring that the Foundations we found here (the land, the trees, the water) remain sound, then we too shall slip down the hillside, just like that building in Maracas Valley. And this protection of our foundations is neither difficult nor unreasonable.

Other countries have destroyed theirs, and now wish they had what we are seeking to destroy, so we need to listen to them, and to those of us who are working to save our foundations- our natural environment for it is from there that all else spring.

And it is not only the developers, the quarry operators and the government who have major roles to play in this saving of our foundations. Individuals and groups who litter our rivers, streams and beaches are also destroying the foundations of our society, both physically by discarding litter, and socially, by defiling our pristine places.

And all those who contributed to the burning of the “bush”, and the forests, whether to “plant garden”, “clean-up the area” or even “to run snakes”, however well meaning, you all contributed to the flooding and landslips occurring today.

Landslips occur where tree cover has been removed, whether by bulldozer, chain saw or fire. The fires destroyed a generation of baby birds and nest eggs, all of which were consumed by flames or suffocated in smoke. They also burned through the habitats of young agouti, lappe, tattoo and other small animal species.

For this last reason I totally support the call by environmentalists for a five-year ban on hunting in our forests, starting immediately. We rationed water when it was scarce, now we need to “ration” hunting, to preserve our unique wildlife for future generations to hunt.

We look forward to the government stepping up to meet its environmental commitments now, and stabilise our natural foundations.