No return to Bare until landslide remediation is done, but Kakanj Municipality needs all the help

Teams of geologists led by Prof. Dr. Izet Žigić and Dr. Hazim Hrvatović were again in the Bare settlement near Kakanj today, and they mapped the landslide area, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

In fact, two teams from Tuzla and the Federal Institute of Geology Sarajevo worked together, surveyed the terrain, mapped, and defined the spatial extent of the landslide.

- We have identified 4 zones in the entire area related to this landfill, zones that have already been activated and zones that pose a potential danger to become a problem in the future, just as this landslide is a problem. At the same time, we agreed that the measures taken regarding the evacuation of people were the right move and that they should remain in force, considering that the right block of the landslide (viewed from the head of the landslide towards Bare, author's note) on which there are cracks on the slope poses a danger of new mass movements under changed conditions - it was announced.

Three phases of further activities to be carried out related to this location have been proposed.

- The first phase has been tactically implemented, we have defined the danger and what constitutes a danger. In the next phase, we should install geodetic benchmarks and conduct constant or daily geological-geodetic monitoring, which means we will see how the mass behaves so that we can intervene in a timely manner.

Also, we believe that within the scope of emergency remediation measures, a series of activities should be carried out, such as unloading, considering that the slope is about fifty meters high and that we have significant cracks on the slopes. It is necessary to unload the front part and reinforce the base of the landslide. It is necessary to level and terrace parts of these slopes so that these slopes can transition from being unsafe and unstable, at least so that we can bring them under technical control until the remediation project is completed - said Dr. Žigić.

Due to the scope of work that needs to be done, it exceeds the capabilities of the Municipality of Kakanj, and other potentials in the country should be activated, considering that it is a mine landfill that is not only a problem for the city of Kakanj.

- It should be viewed more broadly in order to be resolved adequately. If there is such an approach to the solution, then I think there is a future for the Bare settlement; if not, I don't believe we will lose lives because everything has been done to prevent that, but we will lose new material assets - said Prof. Dr. Izet Žigić, a graduate geological engineer.