THE?DISCOVERY?of another cave in the Brittons Hill, St Michael area has once again created fear among residents.
Last Wednesday, officials at the Eastern Caribbean Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, located at Brydens Avenue, discovered a huge portion of their land had collapsed, exposing a massive underground cave.
Yesterday, residents in Millyard Road and surrounding areas – communities near to the conference centre – expressed concern over this recent development with some calling on Government to do more geological testing in the wider Brittons Hill area.
Kyle Harding, whose house is located behind the church’s wall, said he was scared.
“I can’t sleep at night. It is getting scary,” he said, pointing out that he lived in the area for 49 years.
Another long-time resident, 51-year-old John Paul, who said he was very knowledgeable about the area, called on Government to conduct surveys in Brittons Hill so residents would know where the caves were located.
“Don’t wait till the last minute to come and do things,” he said.
Annie Newton, 26, said she was concernedfor herself and hertwo children.
“We had the one at Arch Cot that kill a family and now this one. You have to wonder what next,” she said.
Other residents living near the church’s conference centre said while they were concerned, they would await the report from the experts about this new development.
However, former Government geologist Leslie Barker, who examined the cave last Friday, said there appeared to be no connection between that one and the cave at Arch Cot Terrace where an apartment building collapsed, killing five people in 2007.
“Though this one appears to be relatively small (compared to Arch Cot) and has caused no loss of life or structural damage, there seem to be some tremors running through the residents of the area. There is really no need for any widespread panic in the area,” Barker told the SUNDAY?SUN.
In addition, he said, there might be other caves in the area.
“The presence of the cave on the grounds of the [Adventists] is not unexpected, since it is located next to a large sinkhole and watercourse, and the limestone in the area is poorly cemented, giving a soft, crumbly rock. This is an ideal environment for caves to form.
“The cave is located on the periphery of the sinkhole, which is normally filled with rainwater after heavy rain. There may also be other caves in this general area. Only one building is located within 20 metres of the cave opening, and no large cracks in the walls, which might indicate instability, have been reported.
”Barker stressed that he had not done a comprehensive study of this area, “only a quick examination of the cave and its immediate surroundings”
.He also pointed out that Barbados was largely a limestone island and caves of various sizes existed throughout the island.
But he advised that a geotechnical study be done if any more construction was planned.
“The caves which are particularly dangerous to dwellings on the surface are the shallow caves with relatively thin roof cover. This cave appears to have had about two metres of roof cover. “The deeper caves with a thick roof cover are not so susceptible to cave-ins,” Barker said.