Geologist reveals cause of rockfalls on Aburi Mountain

A geologist at the University of Ghana, Dr Prince Ofori Amponsah, has attributed the falling of rocks from the Aburi mountains to heavy construction works.

There were reports that some rocks were falling off the Aburi hills onto the road, causing some discomfort to motorists who ply the road.

According to Dr Amponsah, though a wire mesh has been used to protect the rocks, human activities leading to the loss of vegetation cover of the rocks have further exposed the weak materials.

“These rocks are not quite stable. Initially, they shouldn’t have been a problem because we have vegetation cover on them. However, due to the construction that we have done, we have exposed these weak materials. And these weak materials that we have exposed over time are still going to come out of where they are originally, because of the initial weakness they have. I can say that some level of mesh solution has been put on those rocks.

“There is a wire mesh that we use to protect sections of the rocks. However, we have the road there and then we have degradation of land and people continuously building on top of the mountain and exposing these weak rocks to the surface,” Dr Ofori Amponsah explained.

He is, therefore, calling for the government’s immediate intervention to forestall any future disaster.

“This problem is not going to stop until there is an intervention by the government so that when people are building, they will follow building codes and standards.

“Also taking into account the kind of geology we have there, this problem is going to persist,” the geologist stated as reported by citinewsroom.