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Last update - 02:49 23/04/2008 The Earth and Us / Now they act: Cabinet to look into cliff collapses By Zafrir Rinat and Jack Khoury Several government ministries have decided that the many instances of cliff collapses in recent years - such as one in Givat Olga yesterday - require a comprehensive preservation policy for coastal cliffs rather than a case-by-case solution. The decision will be brought before the cabinet for approval shortly. Yesterday's collapse moderately injured a 20-year-old Jerusalem man, when the kurkar cliff above his tent collapsed at a Givat Olga beach. His five friends with him were lightly injured. Advertisement "There is no doubt that there was a great miracle here, and if [all] the young people had been inside the tents while they were sleeping, the entire incident would have looked differently," said paramedic Avi Tzafon. Police evacuated everyone from the beach and closed it after the accident. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority warned that the Givat Olga collapse was not likely to be the last, saying all coastal kurkar cliffs posed a risk of collapse. The authority said that signs are posted in areas where there is a serious risk of collapse to warn people to stay away. The cabinet is slated to discuss a proposal based on a study by the Environment Ministry and Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, with the participation of the Geological Survey of Israel, that maps the coastal cliff danger areas for the first time, and recommends different methods of protecting them. The study "determines that protection must be given clear priority in cases involving damage to areas of public importance, like a promenade in coastal cities or archaeological and heritage sites," said Valerie Brachia, who heads the Environment Ministry's planning department, at a conference several months ago. "On the other hand, there should be no intervention in what happens to a cliff in open areas, because this is a natural process." The experts have defined the entire cliff area as a danger zone because of the natural processes that lead to their collapse, caused by the waves lapping the bottom of the cliffs and the rain beating down on top. Human activity like the digging of drainage ditches has also destabilized the cliffs. Methods of protection include building walls or placing rocks next to the cliffs, and placing breakwaters in the sea to minimize the force of the waves. Experts say the breakwaters are generally more effective and cause less damage, but some say they are more expensive than other methods. The coastal cliffs take up about 70 kilometers, and stretch intermittently from Rafah in the south to Atlit in the north. The longest sections in Israel are in the Ashkelon area, between Bat Yam and the Yarkon estuary, and between Herzliya and Beit Yanai. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Sex, lies and videotape 3 Kibbutz Ein Gedi residents suspected of filming themselves raping Danish tourists. Big brother is watching An IDF soldier has been jailed for posting sensitive photos on Facebook.

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