Constructive analysis of the role that engineering geological and rock mechanics methods could play in a complex emergency. Lessons Learned from the Totalán Case

Abstract

The emergency services receive a notice on 13/01/2019 that a 2-year-old boy has fallen into a borehole in Totalán, (Málaga, Spain). After almost 13 days of unusual and overwhelming engineering and solidarity efforts his body is recovered. This was an extraordinary and unusual emergency case, due to: the superhuman effort made by the more than 300 people involved in the rescue operation; the follow-up made by the media, and all the engineering work carried out in record time. For this purpose, it was decided to build a parallel shaft and a 71-meter-deep transversal tunnel, to access the supposed hole, where he is expected to be alive. The cost was approximately 700,000 €. The contribution of geology might have been small, according to sources in the authorities and the media, due to time constraints. But was it really like that? it could have been much more useful, in terms of reducing time frames or even to making different decisions to facilitate the rescue, if other geophysical and engineering geological research methods had been taken into account in the early days. This retrospective analysis is approached with the utmost respect for the efforts made and always with the greatest possible scientific rigour.