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A sudden landslide caused 48 lives to be lost tragically on the Meida Expressway, and also made people deeply alert to the current situation of slope safety management.
In the early morning of May 7, a highway collapse accident occurred in Chayang Town, Dapu County, Meizhou, and many vehicles fell into the collapse, resulting in many deaths. The section of the road where the incident occurred was the eastern extension of the Meizhou-Tai Po Expressway, and a sudden collapse occurred while passing through the mountainous slope.
After the incident, rescue forces urgently launched a search and rescue, and experts also launched an investigation into the cause of the collapse. However, this tragedy reminds us that there are still many weak links in the safety management of highway slopes in mountainous areas of mainland China, which urgently need to be paid attention to and deeply reflected.
The section of the road where the Meizhou landslide occurred had slope damage and landslides in August 2022. At that time, the restoration plan was reinforced with concrete slope protection, but in the end, it could not withstand the impact of continuous heavy rainfall.
According to experts, if the drainage system is not smooth, the water pressure may have a negative impact on the stability of the slope.
At present, the design of expressways in mainland China mainly refers to the standard floods and rainstorms that occur once in 50 years or once in 100 years, but in recent years, extreme weather has increased significantly, and some design standards have begun to be insufficient.
However, most of the mountainous slopes in the mainland have not been reinforced with special reinforcement measures, and rely more on conventional drainage systems to ensure safety. In the event of a heavy rainstorm, the safety margin may be insufficient.
In addition, there is a risk that the geological conditions of the slope will not be accurately judged in the design. For example, the Meizhou landslide is likely to be caused by a crack between the road surface and the foundation soil, rather than a simple road collapse. This shows that the relevant geological surveys also need to be more careful.
Experts pointed out that the inspection of the slope of the mainland highway is mainly done manually, but due to cost considerations, it is difficult to fully cover the complex terrain area. The maintenance of some key diseases is not in place, which also increases the potential safety hazards.
In addition, in the construction and maintenance of mainland roads, the status of slope engineering professionals also needs to be improved. Failure to take their professional advice on the table can also lead to a poorly planned conservation plan.
Safety production focuses on prevention, and the early warning system is an important means of slope safety monitoring. However, the Meizhou landslide shows that there are certain blind spots in the existing early warning system.
Although GNSS and other automated monitoring equipment were set up in the local area, no early warning was issued. Experts analyzed that if the collapse is sudden, the equipment has no time to warn; If it is caused by the accumulation of water pressure, the device does not monitor the change in water pressure.
It can be seen that the current early warning system has the limitation of only monitoring displacement, but not groundwater level change. There may be blind spots in the equipment distribution that do not fully cover critical slopes.
Further research is also needed on the setting of early warning thresholds to distinguish between different geological conditions. All of these factors can lead to poor early warning.
After the Meizhou landslide incident, Guangdong Province has deployed a new round of slope hidden danger investigation, which is a positive signal. In order to realize the fundamental transformation of slope safety governance, it is also necessary to innovate in mechanism construction.
It is worth noting that some regions and countries have accumulated some advanced experience in slope monitoring and early warning.
For example, Singapore has widely adopted capillary barrier systems in slope management, which can effectively prevent rainwater from scouring the slope. Some areas have also tried to establish an early warning system for slope landslides, and use seismic monitoring and rainfall monitoring technologies to evaluate and monitor slope stability. These experiences are worth learning from the mainland. The key is to make full use of new technologies and establish an intelligent slope safety monitoring system.
The Meizhou landslide has sounded the alarm for us. At present, the safety of mainland highway slopes is facing new challenges, and it is necessary to systematically promote the construction of safety governance system.
Only by attaching great importance to it, increasing capital investment, and establishing an intelligent safety protection system, can we keep our travel road away from danger and let people's lives and property live and work in peace and contentment. Let us work together to protect the road of life.