Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering

Hill slope housing development in Vinikilang, Yola, Nigeria: A geo-disaster risk

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• Abstract

  This work is a community development based research meant for awareness and response. Due to population increase in Yola and environs, Nigeria, settlements have expanded into some unsafe grounds. An example is Vinikilang, a fast growing residential/commercial suburb of Yola. This work shows that the town has been developed on a tectonically evolving rocky, fractured and geologically unstable hill slope. The instability is a function of lithological, structural, topographic and climatic factors which work synergistically. Field observations reveal two fracture/tectonic directions namely NE-SW and NW-SE which are conjugational, dominant on the slope and control the channel of the Benue River in the area. Evidences of mass wasting are shown in this work in order to discourage further housing development. Seepage forces especially during heavy rains constitute a major agent of rock fracture. Geodetic monitoring of slope and resettlement of inhabitants are among the recommendations made to forestall losses in the event of rock fall/slope failure which are sure to occur but uncertain in time.