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Al Ain: The Al Ain Municipality has issued guidelines for construction activities in areas that are known to have underground holes.
The decision follows reports of incidences of damage to properties.
The guidelines have been recommended by a team of scientists and municipality engineers and UAE University (UAEU) based on the ongoing geological study aimed at creating a knowledge-base on the nature of land.
A 17-member team, led by Rowda Al Sa'adi, has been working to tackle the problem that has affected several projects in Al Ain city and the Shahama area of Abu Dhabi.
Rowda and Professor Hayder Aziz Bakr, a faculty member at the Geology Department of the UAEU, on Sunday told the participants of a workshop that underground cavities are a threat to construction projects and need to be tackled through proper geological surveys.
The briefing was attended by Awad Khalifa Hasoom Al Drmaki, General Manager of Al Ain Municipality, managers of municipality departments and representatives of construction companies. Prof Bakr said the existing method of geotechnical drills is not effective in tracing subsurface objects and cavities.
"The area has precious archaeological remains, Falajs [ancient underground water channels], and potentially dangerous cavities," he said.
The geological study project has various techniques to locate subsurface objects with precision, he said.
"The project objective is to study the layers beneath the surface to a depth of 40 metres in Al Ain city and its suburbs," he said.
He cited three case studies, saying geotechnical drillings had failed to find underground cavities in those projects. Cavities were later accidentally found there resulting in the stoppage of work.
Stopped
He said a subsurface cavity was found at the site of Shaikha Salama Mosque in downtown Al Ain. The work was stopped on the project and methods were being developed to tackle the problem.
Rowda said future social and economic plans for Al Ain city points to a period of boom in construction.
"This requires taking into consideration all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of people and structures," she said.
The top priority is therefore the understanding of the geological and structural nature of the ground.
The existence of cavities of various sizes near the surface is known, said Rowda, noting that these cavities and Falajs have caused damages to property.
She said without a proper geophysical survey the dangers to the structures are difficult to identify.
Hole: Danger to lives
A subsurface cavity is a hole beneath the surface that cannot be detected under normal conditions from above.
They develop due to geological or human-induced causes. Cavities are considered a dangerous threat to a building, roads or any structure built on such land. They result in subsidence (caving in or collapsing) causing minor to great damage to the property and civic infrastructure and human lives.
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