Editorial: Crumbles, collapses and inaction

The need for a comprehensive national geological survey is hardly a recent call: it was already a headline in Times of Malta in 2012.

Since then, numerous incidents resulted from nature playing out its course, everything from crumbles to collapses, and from near-misses to loss of life.

In 2012, geologist Peter Gatt was presenting his findings on the geological composition of the Maltese platform, which delved into the effects of climate change. Even all those years ago, it was already clear that this would have an impact on rock composition.

Since then, the Azure Window collapse in 2017 was probably the most spectacular, but there were others which destroyed lives: in Marsascala two years ago, and in Comino only a few days ago. The authorities have been frantically putting up ‘danger’ signs and warning tapes around the islands, in Aħrax, Anchor Bay, St Peter’s Pool, Ħofriet… But it is clearly not enough.

Has it been a case of ‘crying wolf’? Hardly. The president of the Malta Chamber of Geologists raised many red flags over the years. However, this is not an exact science: saying that an area is unsafe does not resonate with a public who think this is a warning that does not apply to them, not here and not now.

Take the Comino arch, which claimed the life of the Chinese man recently. Just weeks before, there were videos posted of kayaks and jet skis using the arch as a photo backdrop, and just before the collapse, three people were sprawled upon it, in spite of warning cracks.

There are similar photos and videos at many other sites: people spreading their beach towels under crumbling rocks; families walking on cliff overhangs that are barely a metre thick; boats anchoring under hillsides that are no longer attached to their base, waiting to collapse and engulf those beneath.

It beggars belief that such a national entity that would look after and into such surveys has not yet been set up. Its output could play an important role in determining economic activity, but it would also collect data that would protect lives and property, not only now but looking ahead to the future. It could identify hazardous points and monitor them on a regular basis, flagging them when their failure becomes imminent.

The organisation would not be unprecedented – many other countries have a similar entity. Malta is the only one in the EU without one – and its work has become all the more important given the sheer numbers of people now living and visiting here, as well as the impact of climate change such as rising sea levels. Fault lines and fractures are gaping along much of the coastline, and boulders seem to be hanging on to hillsides by mere willpower.

And in the meantime, storms are getting more violent, battering our shores with wind, rain and waves that combine with truly destructive forces.

Once quiet bays like St Peter’s Pool and Ħofriet are now overwhelmed by people and boats competing for space, making it all the more important for dangers to be identified and warnings to be taken seriously – with a serious presence by enforcement.

It is simply not good enough for authorities to shrug that they do not have enough resources: from people to boats and vehicles. We cannot expect to grow the population without increasing the investment that these entities require to match the growing demand for surveillance.

The Nationalist Party had promised in its electoral manifesto to take the matter up, but the government has so far ignored the issue, even though the danger is well beyond theoretical.

This does not mean the government should appease public sentiment and set up a toothless tiger.

Clearly, any new entity will shake up the status quo, and there will no doubt be considerable reluctance to cede territory. But cede they must… The time for talk is long gone.