Earth retention systems disasters: Causes and prevention

In recent years,the trends of deep excavation for basement construction in high-rise buildings are getting rapid popularity in pakistan. however,the design and construction specifications of earth retention systems adopted for deep excavation are not yet standardized which have resulted in a number of recent disasters. this paper addresses earth retention system disasters and associated problems observed in design and construction using database of 20 recent projects located at lahore,pakistan. some of these problems are unique to pakistan,whereas several others are universal. the illustrations of such problems and the preventive measures have been described. it is emphasized that these problems can easily be avoided by adopting effective project management,quality control measures as well as by enforcing the appropriate geotechnical engineering byelaws and specifications in the projects. © pakistan academy of sciences.