A massive, 4-kilometre-long landslide in Niscemi, Sicily, triggered by Cyclone Harry and heavy rain, has forced over 1,500 people to evacuate, exposing long-ignored warnings about building on unstable, high-risk geological terrain. Geologists had warned for years about the risks, as the town’s plateau is giving way due to water trapped in the subsoil.

“This is a slow-motion geologic event that reached a sudden, catastrophic moment,” said Dr Elena Russo, a geologist at the University of Catania. “When soils become saturated over long periods, the cohesion that holds slopes together vanishes. In urbanised landscapes, human activity, poorly maintained drainage, and altered land use compound the risk.”

Yet in Malta, geologists are still deprived of their rightful professional status. Worse, they are still denied a stakeholder role in the Building and Construction Consultative Council, a forum for consultation and dialogue among representatives of various sectors of the building and construction industry, the government, and the Building and Construction Authority.

Perhaps what just happened in neighbouring Sicily can serve as an eye-opener for our respective authorities to give due recognition to geologists before something similar, albeit on a smaller scale, happens in our country.

                                      The incoming Auditor General

Outgoing Auditor General Charles Deguara is expected to conclude his second five-year term in March 2026. Throughout his tenure, he did a splendid job in overseeing public accounts and reporting on local government. For this, he surely deserves public recognition and thanks.

Whoever succeeds him will be just the fourth Auditor General since Parliament unanimously approved amendments to the Constitution of Malta in 1997 to establish the independence of the Auditor General (AG) and Deputy Auditor General (DAG), with Mr Joseph G. Galea being the first to occupy this constitutional role, followed by Mr Anthony Mifsud in 2008.

Over the years, the Office has lamented the lack of consequences for frequent transgressions of prescribed financial management prescripts as the primary reason that adverse audit outcomes remain the way they’ve always been. This is one of the key reasons, and not the only one. This is one area where those charged with legislative oversight could contribute to bringing about a decisive shift in the management of public funds.

The great expectations are that the incoming auditor general will continue where his or her predecessor left off, carried forward by good qualities such as an unwavering integrity, high-level technical auditing competence, and the courage to report findings objectively without influence.

Essential qualities also include strong analytical, communication, and leadership skills, combined with strategic foresight and the ability to maintain independence. He or she will have to be ethical, thorough, and adaptable in the public sector.

                                                    Type 5 diabetes

I wonder whether our health authorities are aware of the growing incidence of a newly detected type of diabetes in several countries, not least on the European mainland.

It has been categorised as a type 5 diabetes and targets young and slim people. It has signs of diabetes that do not match types 1 or 2.

Initially, the World Health Organisation classified it as ‘malnutrition-related diabetes mellitus’, and it was the International Diabetes Federation that gave it a new name: type 5 diabetes.

While type 1, an autoimmune disease, is quite prevalent in Malta, type 2 diabetes makes up nine in 10 diabetes cases and is typically caused by obesity, poor diet and genetics.

Experts believe 25 million people across the world could be living with type 5 diabetes, most of whom don’t know it and are slim teens and young adults. This may also include people misdiagnosed as having type 1 diabetes.

I don’t know whether our health authorities have already formally added it to their disease classifications, considering a growing number of people with eating disorders who may be at the highest risk due to their potential for malnutrition.

Symptoms of type 5 diabetes are largely similar to type 1, including increased thirst, frequent urination, headache, blurred vision, fatigue and slow-healing cuts and sores. These signs also overlap with classic symptoms of malnutrition such as weight loss, fatigue and hunger.

Experts believe people with type 5 diabetes can produce insulin and are not resistant to it, but their pancreas is underdeveloped and cannot make enough due to malnourishment. Because of this, treating type 5 with insulin, like in type 1 or type 2, is often ineffective.

Worse, misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis could have negatively impacted the clinical care and lives of individuals with type 5 diabetes.