[ad_1]
The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) posted online on New Years Day what they believe to be all the reports they have made about the Nystulia residential area, where the deadly landslide took place on Christmas Eve.
The private company carried out for the first time in 2003 “Regulatory Plan for the Ask Center – ROS Analysis with Action Plan” for the municipality of Gjerdrum. This is a risk and vulnerability analysis, where it appears that due to a great danger of landslides, the area cannot be developed without stabilization measures.
Since then, NGI has been hired by the developer, both as a geotechnical designer for the landslide prevention measures, and as the controlling company for the same measures related to the Nystulia residential area.
A total of eight technical notes from the years 2005-2006 describe in detail what measures should be implemented to secure the area prior to construction. The most important measures are:
- Relief / excavation of higher ground to reduce load
- Backfill of lower ground and gullies to act as fill or counterbalance to a potential landslide.
- Fjellstadbekken / Tistilbekken erosion protection
No final report?
Developer Odd Sæther at Gjerdrum Boliger assures Dagbladet that all of NGI’s landslide prevention advice has been followed to the letter, down to the size of drainage stones in landfills.
However, no final report has been released showing that the measures have actually been implemented in accordance with NGI’s advice. The developer confirms that NGI was also hired as the holding company.
– The documents we have posted on our website are all we have of documentation for the construction field at this time. Tomorrow we will review our physical archive to see if there are more relevant documents, NGI communications manager Øydis Ulrikke Castberg tells Dagbladet on Sunday.
He asks for an understanding that NGI is primarily concerned with helping NVE in the acute phase and therefore it may take some time to see if they have more relevant documents.
In the documents that have been published, NGI writes that they have control during the construction period in 2005-2006. However, in the press release accompanying the publication, the following reservations are made:
“Whenever security measures were implemented, stability in the area was improved.”
Lisbeth (54) and Bjørn-Ivar (40) died in the avalanche
The municipality is responsible
– The municipality is responsible for ensuring that residential areas are slip resistant. The municipality is always responsible for using its knowledge in this regard and making the appropriate demands. But responsibility in the construction case process is actually largely assigned to private individuals, as they are “responsible applicant” / “responsible company”, etc., notes Professor Fredrik Holth in law at the Norwegian University of Sciences de la Vida, expert in the Planning and Construction Law.
The municipality rarely has the competence to establish requirements for specific landslide protection measures, but must establish requirements for the developer in this regard, or acquire competence when developed.
– Our role is limited to setting requirements on a building permit and possibly checking whether the companies that design and control landslide protection have the competence to do so. We also carry out inspections, says the technical manager in the municipality of Gjerdrum, Berit Adriansen.
No geologist
She confirms that the municipality of Gjerdrum does not have any employed geologist or its own geotechnical experience in landslides and is therefore completely dependent on external expertise.
– What we do is make sure that all subject areas are covered by a responsibility that should fall on a company. Then we check to see if the company has the competence to do what it wants to be responsible for, Adriansen says.
She says that the municipality relies heavily on NVE, but is quite clear that it is the municipality that is responsible for building safe housing for races.
– If we have. We are the ones with the competence to make decisions. We also have to do our own evaluation.
The Building Regulations were modified in 2010, so the same company is no longer allowed to design and control (own advice), as happened in Nystulia.
Fredrik Holth thinks this makes sense:
– This is a sensible rule change because it increases confidence in the system and ensures a more robust system system, by not controlling yourself, he says.
Death Races: – Fear this is just the beginning
Waiting for documents
Due to the evacuation and a small digital archive, the municipality still does not have access to all relevant documents related to the development. When available, you will receive a response on whether the municipality has established the necessary requirements and has asked the promoter (promoter) to answer whether the landslide protection has been carried out correctly.
– The police have opened an investigation case and we prioritize delivering all relevant documents to them as soon as possible, says Adriansen.
As recently as Sunday night, he participated in a municipal delegation that did a quick new search for documents in the evacuated city hall. The municipal employees were then escorted by the National Guard and the Firefighters.
– All NGI advice has been followed, says developer Odd Sæther at Gjerdrum Bolig for his part. But you cannot currently present documentation that this is the case.
– I myself was evacuated and therefore do not have access to documents confirming what has been done, Sæther tells Dagbladet.
Can give some answers
Document review in the coming days and weeks will be important in mapping the cause of the dramatic Gjerdrum landslide. The document review will also include other development and agricultural issues, as well as all other measures in the vicinity of the landslide, which may have affected the stability of the terrain..
The questions remain: Has the municipality established the appropriate requirements and has the promoter / promoter followed them with the help of companies with the appropriate competence?
NVE’s 2005 National Rapid Clay Report, produced by NGI, states that “the vast majority of rapid clay landslides in the past 20-30 years have been caused by human activities.”
