There is an infrastructure design trend unfolding in Greater Victoria that is creating ticking time bombs. I鈥檓 referring to the increasing use of one-metre-cube-sized boulders in large stacked-stone retaining walls. This design is being employed on a massive scale in the large infrastructure project along Highway 14 to Sooke.
The issue is this: During a massive earthquake, in the 8.0 to 9.0 range due here some time within the foreseeable future, ground acceleration rates (up and down movement) will easily surpass 鈥渙ne G,鈥� or one earth-gravity. That means components of simple stacked structures, such as these boulder retaining walls, will levitate and the walls will obviously collapse. It鈥檚 simple physics. It has happened many times in recorded history.
The question is: Why are provincial and municipal officials allowing building permits to be issued, in a major earthquake zone, for these disasters waiting to happen?
Kevin Bishop
Saanich
