Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Geologists Warn of Landslide Risks in Capital

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Aug 8 2011 (IPS) - Four marginalized neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa are at "high risk" of facing major landslides during the rainy season, a team of geologists from Costa Rica concluded after a three-week study in Honduras. Mitigation projects are needed in the neighborhoods of La Obrera, Casandra, Campo Cielo and Ulloa in the north of the city to make them more resilient and increase their capacity to recover from a disaster, Ginés Suárez, a risk management advisor at the Honduras country office of the United Nations Development Programme, told Tierramérica.

Work has already begun in La Obrera on the construction of a gabion retaining wall and the installation of pipes to more effectively channel wastewater.

Suárez, who accompanied the geologists from the University of Costa Rica, said that their preliminary risk mapping also identified faults in the highway that leads to the north of the country and the beltway that crosses the capital from north to south. The completed map of environmental risks is scheduled to be presented in October.