Between Lavish and Famish

See the irony of the two articles below.

The rich waste what they have while the poor and less fortunate starve. Donating to the needy can be a problem due to

logistics, corruption and different political ideologies. It is indeed a sad state of affairs.

Overweight parents could be paid to walk their children to school as part of a Government campaign to fight the obesity epidemic.

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent

Only 11.5 per cent of parents whose children were overweight recognised that they had a problem Photo: Ian Jones

Under the scheme people who exercise would receive supermarket-style vouchers to spend on sports gear and healthy food.

Those attending keep-fit classes or weight loss clubs could be eligible for rewards, as well as those walking to bus or train stations.

Critics claim the rewards will be a form of bribery. It is thought machines would be placed in schools or stations so parents or commuters could swipe their cards to tot up points.

The proposal will be assessed during a pilot project in Manchester, one of nine areas designated as "healthy towns".

It will be announced today by Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, who will encourage every business to take action against obesity.

But the plans have caused controversy, with small business leaders warning that they were already too stretched and that the current economic climate was "not the right time" to ask them to do more.

Mr Johnson is expected to say that a massive effort is required to alert the nation, and especially parents, to the risks of obesity, as he outlines plans for a nationwide £325 million "revolution" on the problem.

Research for the Department of Health shows that almost nine out of ten parents fail to recognise that their children are overweight or obese.

Experts predict that half of adults could have weight problems by 2050, creating a health crisis expected to cost the NHS £50 billions.

More than 12,000 businesses, charities and local groups have signed up to help promote the Government's campaign.

But Mr Johnson has called for more to join their number.

He said: "I am today challenging every CEO of every company who can influence what we eat and how we exercise to come forward and tell us how they are going to help beat this national epidemic.

"Obesity affects us all so everyone must get involved."

But Stephen Alambritis, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said that it was "not the right time" to ask more of small employers.

He said: "If this message is targeted to the CEOs of the top FTSE companies that is understandable but at the moment many small employers are struggling to keep their staff on the payroll and it is not the right time to ask more of them."

Businesses which have signed up to the initiative include ITV, which is to run a series of programmes tracking viewers' attempts to live healthier lives, and Kellogg's, the cereal giant, which will support breakfast clubs in deprived areas.

The Department of Health said that it had also come to "unprecedented" arrangements with Tesco and Asda, the supermarkets, to offer discounts on healthy food.

"Ten million people visit their corner shops every day and 36 million shop at Asda and Tesco each week - the fact that grocers and supermarkets are on board means we can really influence what goes into our shopping trolleys," Mr Johnson said.

"It's unprecedented for supermarkets to join the Government and pledge to cut prices on healthy food. But this isn't an exclusive club. Anyone who promises to help families to be healthier can join."

Mr Johnson said that research had shown that the challenge of convincing parents to change their habits would be difficult.

He said: "The message that we received from parents was clear: we recognise that obesity is a big problem, but it's not our problem."

"The aim of Change4Life is to help parents understand that obesity is a problem for all of us and that it causes severe illnesses and premature death.

"Finger wagging and lecturing won't work, that's why Change4Life is designed to be supportive and helpful."

Research commissioned for the Department of Health shows that just 11.5 per cent of parents whose children were overweight or obese children recognised that they had a problem.

Children forced to eat insects as starvation and cholera grip Zimbabwe

Children near Murehwa, Zimbabwe, poke sticks into a termite mound to draw out insects to eat

Picture: AP

Cancer Risk in Diet Pills

The US government warned prospective dieters on Monday, 22nd December, 2008, as reported by the Star on Wednesday, to avoid close to 30 weight-loss products that contain unlisted and possibly dangerous ingredients.

The pills are advertised as " natural fat busters and have intriguing names like Imelda Perfect Slim and Zhen de Shou. Some are promoted as new versions of "ancient remedies" from Asia.

They promise an easy fix to weight problems, but the Federal Food & Drug Administration,(FDA), said that the concoctions contain unlisted ingredients, including high doses of a powerful anti-obesity drug, as well as suspected carcinogen.

When consumers buy these products online,FDA lawyer Michael Levy advises that ,"if it sounds too good to be true, it is likely too good to be true.

"The tainted products pose a risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and in some cases prescription drugs in doses that greatly exceed their maximum dosages"
, says Dr Janet Woodcock, the Director of the FDA Drug Evaluation centre.

Most of the diet pills originate from China and sold mainly on the Internet.

Nearly all the pills contain sibutramine, a powerful appetite suppressant and is a cousin of amphetamines. It can cause heart attacks, strokes and heart palpitations, especially in people with high blood pressure and a history of heart problems.

Several of the pills also contain phenolphthalein, a chemical used as a laxative, but now withdrawn from the market due to its link to cancer risks.

The FDA is considering criminal charges against some of the companies because they have not responded to requests for recalls.

The products are: Fatloss Slimming, 2 Day Diet, 3X Slimmimg Power, 5X Imelda Perfect Slimming, 3 Day Diet Japan Lingzhi, 24 Hours Diet, 7 Day Diet/Night Formula, 7 Day Herbal Slim, 8 Factor Diet, 999 Fitness Essence, Extrim Plus and GMP.

Also included are: Imelda Perfect Slim, Lida DaiDaihua, Miaozi Slim Capsules, Perfect Slim, Perfect Slim 5X, Phyto Shape, ProSlim Plus, Royal Slimming Formula, Slim 3 in 1, Slim Express 360, Slimtech, Somotrin, Superslim, Tripleslim, Zhen de Shou, Venom Hperdrive 3.0.-AP

For those among us who intend to reduce weight- the safest way is still the old way as recommended by the doctors and health practitioners: ADOPT A HEALTHY DIET AND EXERCISE AS A ROUTINE.

For young people, remember what you imbibe now will only show the results when you are older. As old folks say, "disease takes time to take root and even takes longer time to heal."
Whatever eating habits you adopt now, coupled with the kind of environment you live in, has a direct impact on your future state of health.

HOW TAINTED PRODUCTS CAN KILL A BUSINESS

Chinese dairy in milk scandal faces $160M debt

The dairy at the center of China's tainted milk scandal has about $160 million in debt, state media reported Thursday, a day after the company confirmed it was bankrupt.

Xinhua News Agency said Sanlu Group Co. faces 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) of net debt and that a branch of the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank was the creditor that applied to a court to have Sanlu declared bankrupt.

The Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang, a city in Hebei province where Sanlu is based, accepted the filing, Xinhua said.

The report quoted Wang Jianguo, city spokesman, as saying that as of Oct. 31, the company's total assets were valued at 1.56 billion yuan ($227 million) while its total debts were 1.76 billion yuan ($256 million), the report said.

Xinhua said Sanlu also owes a creditor 902 million yuan ($132 million) in funds it borrowed earlier this month to pay for the medical treatment of children sickened after drinking the company's infant formula, and for compensation of the babies' families.

Calls to the spokesman's office of Shijiazhuang city government rang unanswered while a bank clerk who answered the phone at the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank said the bank's director was unavailable for comment. Sanlu's officials could not be reached.

Sanlu, like a number of major Chinese dairies, had been exempt from government inspections because it was deemed to have superior quality controls _ until high levels of the industrial chemical melamine were found in its baby formula and other products in September.

Several more dairies were also found to have doctored their goods in a scandal that was blamed for killing six babies and sickening 294,000 children.

The dairy scandal highlighted the widespread practice of adding melamine, often used in manufacturing plastics, to watered-down milk to fool protein tests.

Investigations also discovered it was being added to animal feed after finding melamine-spiked eggs.

Melamine poses little danger in small amounts but larger doses can cause kidney stones and renal failure-AP

Published: by The Star online on Friday December 26, 2008 MYT 7:29:00 AM

Toxins Lurking in Hospitals

I was shocked and scared to read an article in the December Time online magazine. "A doctor's principle code is, "First, do no harm," so it says.The irony is that the doctor's clinics or hospital may be making you more ill than when you first went in. The materials with which hospitals are made, like particleboard, PVC flooring and even conventional paint, that can leach poisonous substances. What's more, the chemicals used to clean hospitals — chlorine, laundry detergents and softeners, ammonia — contain toxic ingredients and can cause respiratory disease. In fact, studies suggest that nurses, who spend long hours at the hospital, have among the highest rates of environmentally induced asthma of any profession. Also, a patient staying too long in hospital does tend to get a hospital induced infection.

In is observed that in the typical hospital, while they are trying to treat or cure illness and disease...the staff and patients are exposed to irritants and carcinogens, and the treatments often contribute to the development of other diseases.

The international advocacy group Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) — whose 2006 study of 1,200 nurses suggested a link between the hospital environmental and health problems among the staff — has been a pioneer in the movement of creating green medicine- the effort to detoxify the healing environment and enhance patients and staff health while reducing costs.

It was HCWH, for example, that in the mid-1990s got U.S. hospitals to stop using thermometers containing mercury, a potent neurotoxin associated with health problems, such as respiratory, kidney and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as interruption of fetal development (which occurs when pregnant women consume too much mercury, usually through fish). Today most hospitals have swapped out their mercury-based measuring devices — including sphygmanometers, which are used to measure blood pressure and contain more mercury than thermometers — for safer alternatives.

Over the same time period, hospitals began eliminating their incinerators altogether, reducing one of the toxic byproducts of burning waste: dioxins. Says Gary Cohen: "In 1996 there were 4,200 medical incinerators in the country. Now there are 83."

Cohen says that the HCWH is now also urging hospitals to replace their PVC (vinyl) flooring with rubber floors. PVC can emit toxins such as dioxin and phthalates, particularly when wet, which studies suggest may affect reproductive health and fetal development, and may also trigger asthma. "Hospitals change to rubber flooring because of the toxic emissions," says Cohen, "As it turns out, switching to rubber actually cuts down on noise and reduces slips and falls, which are also a threat to patient and worker safety."

The investment in new flooring, says Cohen, also saves hospitals money, if one considers the costs over the entire life cycle of a product. Although PVC flooring is cheap to buy, it ends up costing more later; its tendency to become brittle requires frequent maintenance or replacement. The environmental costs are high as well. With PVC flooring, "the manufacturing process creates dioxin. In the end, it is burned, releasing additional dioxin. In between, there's the [emission] of phthalates," says Cohen, noting that PVC is found throughout the hospital, not only in flooring, but also in shower curtains, blood bags and intravenous tubing. "If you can have a safer IV system without exposing patients to toxic substances, especially pregnant women and babies in the neonatal intensive care unit, then hospitals have a responsibility to replace PVC with safer alternatives." Fortunately, safer alternatives exist and may cost as much or less as PVC products.

Hospitals have also managed to save money by greening their cleaning supplies. The Hackensack University Medical Center's pediatric oncology center in New Jersey swapped its toxic-chemical-laden cleaners for its own custom-made natural products, dropping cleaning costs by 15% — and, more important, minimizing employees' and young patients' exposure to irritants and harsh substances, such as ammonia.

The idea of greener — and cheaper — health is catching on fast among health-care CEOs. Some 150 registered health-care industry construction projects currently underway — involving about 30 million sq. ft. of new building space — have pledged to adopt the Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC), a sustainable design toolkit developed in part by HCWH, which helps the health-care sector construct healthier buildings from the start, according to Cohen. For example, the guide suggests ways to maintain indoor air quality, as indoor pollution can cause or aggravate many health conditions and threaten the well-being of patients with compromised immune systems.

But much can be done without building anew, and although support at the executive level is crucial, the impetus for change can come from any member of the staff. At the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in Calif., for instance, Joy Colangelo, an occupational therapist, helped launch the "Green Team" about six months ago. The team's first task was to do a "waste audit" in order to tally unnecessary expenditures, says Colangelo. She found that the hospital's heart department was churning out 20 pages of patient-identification labels per patient, but using only six.

Beyond cutting down waste, says Colangelo, the hospital also attempts to wield the "power of aesthetics to heal," with musical performances, a koi pond filled with 70 koi in the atrium, a "healing garden" and a nursing floor that wraps around a waterfall and patio. All patient rooms also have large windows that provide views of nature and lots of natural light — which cuts electricity costs and is associated with high staff morale and better patient outcomes. "Our green efforts are done under the premise that we have two patients, the environment and the ill patient," says Colangelo, "and the ill patient can't get well without improving our environment."

I wonder whether the planners in Malaysia think "green" when they built our new hospitals. The Sultan Ismail hospital in Pandan, Johor is one example, whereby the operation theatres were contaminated even before full commissioning of the hospital could be carried out.

The Power of the Sun

An article on solar energy from an online newspaper was a real eye opener.It seems that even though the sun rays shines on everyone and everything-it does not fall equally on them. The development of solar power has been hindered due to this fact of reality. Depending on where exactly in the city you live — the same array of photovoltaic solar panels can produce enough electricity to power your house with watts to spare, or barely enough to reduce your electricity bill. It all boils down to the exact amount of sunlight that hits your roof.

An engineering company in San Francisco, CH2M Hill is now joining hands with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide Internet solar maps of 25 American cities, using Google Earth technology to chart the precise solar potential of neighborhoods, literally measuring the sun's rays from rooftop to rooftop. The company has just finished mapping all of San Francisco, allowing residents to enter their address and take the solar measure of their own home. "People in San Francisco think we don't have any solar potential,' says Gavin Newsom, the city's deep-green mayor. "But the map implies that a lot more sun energy can be tapped."

CH2M Hill has already labeled all 925 existing solar systems throughout San Francisco, including commercial sites, government sites and the handful of residential sites. But the most interesting part comes when you enter in an address — any address in San Francisco — into the website. The camera zooms in to your rooftop collecting data on the size of the roof, its estimated solar energy potential, the estimated electricity that could be produced and the utility bill savings, as well as the amount of carbon savings that can be gained by converting to solar energy panels. It will estimate the cost of conversion— with the federal, state and city incentives factored in — and you will be linked directly to a number of Bay Area-solar panel installers.

CH2M Hill is not the only company conducting such solar surveys, and others are even going global. Seattle-based 3Tier is steadily mapping the solar, wind and hydro power potential of the entire planet, with its REmapping the World initiative. Utilities and businesses can use the 3Tier website to prospect for the best locations for wind power projects, while ordinary citizens can check the rough solar potential of their home address. What kind of dividends this will pay in an energy hungry, globally warming world is hard to say, but if San Francisco is any indication, they could be big ones.

San Francisco already has about 6.5mW of solar power hardware installed in the city, most of it from a relatively small number of big commercial and municipal projects. The target aimed is for 31mW of solar by 2012, part of a bigger plan to provide 50mW of total renewable energy by the same year. Mayor Newsom's office is also identifying the 1,500 business that have the biggest solar potential in San Francisco — saving them equally big money — and is offering a special incentive to solar contractors who employ graduates of San Francisco's workforce training program, part of the mayor's push for green jobs. "Everyone's talking about green jobs, but to say is not to do,' he says. "We want to actually do this.'

The shift to renewable energy won't happen on its own — it needs smart government policies and smart technological innovations. Solar mapping is a good example of both.Incentives plus innovations go a long way to make solar power a reality.

To most of us, having solar power is still a long time from now. The high investment costs certainly put many people off. The government should lead the away by making compulsory for public buildings to be green and create a demand for photovoltaic cells. At the same time, offer good tax incentives or rebates for installing them. Only when there is a healthy demand can the solar panels be made and sold at affordable prices.

Risks Faced by Obese Children

Danger ahead

By LINDA A. JOHNSON

Besides diabetes, cholesterol and heart problems, obese children also risk having liver disease.

IN A new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants.

Many more may need a new liver by their 30s or 40s, say experts warning that paediatricians need to be more vigilant. The condition, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure or liver cancer, is being seen in kids in the United States, Europe, Australia and even some developing countries, according to a surge of recent medical studies and doctors interviewed.

The American Liver Foundation and other experts estimate 2%-5% of American children over age five, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have the condition, called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Countries not known for high obesity rates – such as China, India and Iran – are also grappling with the issue. Doctors say globalisation has given these countries fast food chains and sedentary pastimes, leading to childhood obesity.

“It’s clearly the most common cause of liver disease,’’ said Dr Ronald Sokol, head of public policy at the liver foundation and a liver specialist at Children’s Hospital and University of Colorado Denver.

Some experts think as many as 10% of all children and half of those who are obese may suffer from it, but note that few are given the simple blood test that can signal its presence. A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose this disease.

As fat builds up, the liver can become inflamed and then scarred over time, leading to cirrhosis, a serious condition, which in years past was mostly caused by hepatitis or drinking too much alcohol.

Liver failure or liver cancer can follow, but if cirrhosis has not yet developed, fatty liver disease can be reversed through weight loss.

The disease is most common in overweight children with belly fat and certain warning signs, such as diabetes or cholesterol or heart problems. However, it’s been seen in a few children of normal weight.

Genetics, diet and exercise level all play a role. It is more common among boys than girls.

There are people in their 30s or early 40s that will require a liver transplant from developing the condition as a kid, predicts Dr Jose Derdoy, head of liver transplants at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St Louis. He’s treated a 15-year-old, 240kg boy and many others with the condition.

Experts blame obesity, with about two-thirds of all Americans overweight. With fatty liver disease becoming more common in adults, many experts predict it will become the top cause of liver transplants by 2020.

“There aren’t enough livers to go around,’’ says Dr Philip Rosenthal of the University of California-San Francisco Children’s Hospital.

His patient, Irving Shaffino, a 15-year-old Mexican-American who lives outside Lubbock, Texas, was lucky to get a transplant a year ago. He was in end-stage cirrhosis and, at 1.64m, weighed 82kg.

Irving had been fat since age six, thanks to a high-starch, high-fat diet of Mexican food, pizza and burgers, said his mother, Guadalupe Shaffino. At age eight, she said, he had a distended stomach and by his early teens, breathing problems kept him tethered to an oxygen tank at home.

Without health insurance, the family couldn’t find a local hospital that would do a transplant.

“My son begged me, ‘Don’t let me die, Mummy,’ so I did everything in my power to find a place to help him,’’ said Guadalupe Shaffino, a restaurant cook.

UCSF Children’s Hospital, with money from a state health programme, agreed to do the transplant. Dr Rosenthal, who oversees the hospital’s paediatric liver transplant programme, took over care of Irving. The doctor said without a new liver Irving would have died, maybe within months.

“He was in bad shape,’’ said Dr Rosenthal.

Soon after tests were completed and Irving got on a transplant waiting list, an organ was found.

“It felt like a miracle, because people say you could be on the transplant list for years,’’ Irving said.

Within a couple of months of the July 26, 2007 operation, Irving had weaned himself from the oxygen tank and could go on walks, although he got winded quickly.

Back home in Texas, his medications are down from 11 to four and Irving said he’s replaced soda and fast food with fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

“I want to get into sports again,’’ he said.

Sadly, however, Irving has made little progress in losing weight. Specialists say many kids diagnosed with fatty liver disease come to subsequent check-ups heavier, and at best, just one in four loses significant weight, the only treatment known to stop and even reverse the disease.

Like heart disease, liver disease is silent. Kids may feel fine for years. Any early symptoms, like fatigue and loss of appetite, are vague and usually eclipsed by more conspicuous problems, from diabetes to high blood pressure.

“The majority of children with this still go undiagnosed,’’ said Dr Jeffrey Schwimmer, head of the Fatty Liver Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. “Some kids have died.’’

The number of patients at his clinic has roughly tripled over its six years, and he’s seen one with cirrhosis just eight years old.

“Many of these children, their parents have it (fatty liver disease) and don’t know it,’’ said Dr Schwimmer.

Experts say the best way to combat the problem is to intervene early, while it can still be reversed, with a medical team working with the whole family, including liver and hormone specialists, a dietitian and counsellors.

The American Academy of Paediatrics recommended doctors do a blood test of liver enzymes every two years on obese children and overweight ones with high blood pressure or cholesterol or family history of heart disease. A trade group for children’s hospitals last year gave similar advice.

Surprisingly, some research comes from countries not known for high obesity rates: China, India and Iran. More reports come from Australia, England, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy and Japan. Doctors say globalisation has given even poor countries fast food chains and sedentary pastimes: TV, Internet, video games.

Scientists now are seeking the best ways to treat it.

A small study in Rome showed weight loss helped. The US Government is testing the diabetes drug metformin and vitamin E, and is funding about 20 other studies, including one that aims to determine how the disease progresses and who is most likely to develop cirrhosis or liver failure.

When her son was diagnosed with advanced liver disease three years ago, Susan Siegfried recalls being “devastated.’’ Curtis, then 12, was 1.65m and weighed 81kg. About 40% of his liver was scarred.

Her husband, Mike, decreed the whole family would change its diet, and all high-fat and junk food was removed from their home in Chester, Illinois.

Susan said her son went from being the “sit-in-front-of-the-TV, play-video-games kind of kid,’’ tired and sickly, to full of energy and very active. A new liver biopsy last fall showed huge improvement in his liver.

“I’m definitely a lot thinner than I would have been if I hadn’t done anything,’’ said Curtis, who found exercising and cutting out sugar and fat wasn’t that hard. “If you stick with it, you’ll get used to it.’’ – AP

The article serves as a reminder to us not to overfeed our young. Everybody must eat less junk and unhealthy food and exercise more. We should not let the television and video games be the baby-sitters for our young children. Children should be exposed to good eating habits from a young age. We must not adopt the adage that "eat while you are healthy because when you are ill you will not have the appetite to eat anymore" It is the unhealthy eating habits that lead to the illness in the first place.

Bukit Antarabangsa Tragedy

We do not normally switch the television on in the mornings. On Saturday, I called my sister in Alor Star, hundreds of miles away and was surprised when she said, " There is a landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa, (a neighbourhood about 3 km from my house) ".I thought she meant the landslide at Damansara Heights but she insisted that she was watching it live on TV. I immediately switched on the television and was shocked at the damage caused. This involved a greater area compared to the Highland Towers tragedy in 1993.

This time it was as if Nature has returned with a vengeance.The power of the water trapped in the soil was so strong that it could displace entire bungalows and the aftermath looked as if a storm had wrecked or a bomb had been thrown.

Rescue workers had been at the scene round the clock. There had not been able to enjoy the long weekend due to the Aidil Adha holidays. That is the real spirit of Korban.

My condolences to the four who perished and my sincere hope that the lessons learnt will not be forgotten as soon as the last corpse is buried or cremated.

Finger pointing is normal but everyone should be vigilant. Developers, property buyers and the authorities should each play their respective roles to prevent future mishaps. Life is more precious than money.

Respect of the environment must be inbuilt in everyone concerned so that whatever we do, we must consider the consequences if our actions are not in harmony with the environment.

In the case of Bukit Antarabangsa, there are so many developers. Their separate development may not be in harmony with each other. This could be the failure of the developers, engineers, planners and the authorities to synchronize. Could one developer with an overall master plan have done better? Let's see the neighbouring Ukay Perdana in 10 years time.

Below is a first hand account as reported by Bernama:

KUALA LUMPUR: The relative tranquility of Bukit Antarabangsa, a hilly township comprising upmarket and middle class bungalows, condominiums and terrace houses was broken Saturday morning following a landslide that originated from Jalan Wangsa Ukay 9 at Taman Wangsa Ukay.

Tonnes of earth and boulders rolled down several houses just before dawn, at about 3.30am, today, in an area about 1.5km from where one of three blocks of the Highland Towers collapsed on Dec 11, 1993 taking 48 lives.

The landslide happened so fast but word got around through SMSes, radio or tv, and many people made a beeline to the disaster area.

The town centre, comprising a supermarket, a petrol station and two rows of shophouses, was unusually jam-packed with cars of curious onlookers, ambulances, and vehicles from the police and civil defence.

At daybreak, this writer joined a group of onlookers at a row of abandoned houses at Jalan Wangsa 9 overlooking the disaster area.

They decided to circumvent a security tape which had been put up by security officials to prevent people from going near the edge of the slope.

The group of us was about 15 to 20 metres from where it all started.

Suddenly the earth started to move slightly and many of the uprooted Flame of the Forest trees resumed their descent.

The onlookers, many of them armed with camera phones, then ran helter-skelter.

Come to think of it, we were precariously near where disaster struck.

Many of the people there said the landslide must have been caused by the heavy rains over the past few days. This was just at Jalan Wangsa Ukay 9 today.

At the main road leading towards Bukit Antarabangsa, a handful of workmen were seen putting concrete reinforcement against a giant boulder which appeared to be tilting towards the road. A stone's throw away, water was trickling from the crevice of another boulder.

Last week this road was temporarily closed for a day when some boulders fell on to the road.

The workmen appeared to be racing against time. Another disaster could be in the offing if this giant boulder were to give way when more rain falls.

It would mean that one of the main arteries connecting Bukit Antarabangsa to the Middle Ring Road II could be cut again, just as it happened last week and a few years ago. - Bernama

Below is another excerpt from the NST:

KUALA LUMPUR: "We told you so."

Among engineers, the fragility of the slopes in Hulu Kelang, has been ringing alarm bells for years.

In conference after conference, paper after academic paper, they had warned that the instability of the soil on the hillsides of one of the most sought-after residential areas in the Klang Valley was a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Repeatedly pointed out, the lessons of the Dec 11, 1993 collapse of one of the three blocks of the Highland Towers condomimium in Bukit Antarabangsa, which claimed 48 lives and left hundreds injured, have not been learnt.

All in, 13 landslides have occurred in and around Bukit Antarabangsa since then.

The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) blamed the lack of systematic regulatory measures on the safety of hillside development as a root cause of landslides.
IEM vice-president Tan Yean Chim said it had in 2001 forwarded recommendations outlined in a position paper titled "Mitigating the Risk of Landslides on Hill-Site Development" to the government.

"We hope the government can take note of the paper's contents and seriously look at adopting the recommendations, especially on the 'Dangerous Hillside Order' on existing slopes.

"IEM is also ever ready to offer the services of its 22,000 membership to allay the growing public fear for the safety of lives and properties on hillslopes," Tan said.

In the paper, IEM said among the chief causes of landslides were ineffective legislation and guidelines on slope failure mitigation, poor engineering practice, lack of maintenance, and inadequate enforcement and monitoring by regulatory agencies and authorities.

Expressing the standard response to what has been common knowledge in the profession for some time, geotechnical engineer Datuk Dr Ramli Mohamad said "people got excited for a while and then forgot the whole thing".

"In the past, I, like many others, had offered solutions. No one heeded them.

"As long as there is gravity there will be landslides. It will pull down earth. Water will make it worse as the ground becomes heavier and the soil weakens. We live in the tropics where rainfall is high.

"We must be very careful when we encroach into hillslopes. We cannot blame mother nature."

Ramli said the planning and designing of projects, not only at hilltops but the bottom as well, were critical.

"What we do at the top of hillslopes affects what is at the foot. Sometimes, the issue becomes complex owing to land ownership. Who is responsible for which area of land?

"It costs money to do anything. The government has to take responsiblility by enforcing regulations and legislation."

Ramli had six years ago proposed that subsurface drainage be considered as a means to maintain the stability of slopes, particularly in the Bukit Antarabangsa area.

Among his proposals were the building of strong foundations, retaining walls and proper drainage.

Periodic soil tests should be carried out and "unscrupulous devegetation" prevented.

On Nov 16, the New Sunday Times reported that a study of slopes in Hulu Kelang found over a hundred landslide scars, with most of them unremedied and having the potential of slipping again.

The study, commissioned by the Public Works Department's Slope Engineering Branch, found a high likelihood of "fatal slope failures" in its mapping of the Ampang district.

With so much evidence of slope instability, civil engineer Sheikh Abdul Wahed Rahim of Jurutera Perunding GEA (M) Sdn Bhd did not mince words.

"Everybody is just talking and not doing anything about it. We are not doing the right things with the rules and regulations.

"Slopes are becoming too high-tech and it appears developers don't seem to have any idea about landslide prevention.

"The basics are not adhered to and a proper survey is not done before an area is developed."

Oldest Tortoise in the World?

The Daily Mail ( UK) reported on 3rd December, 2008 that:

Jonathan the tortoise is believed to be 176-years-old and was about 70 at the time the black and white picture was taken.

He was captured munching on grass in about 1900 with a captured Boer War prisoner stood in the background looking at him.

A spokesman for the ST Helena island's tourist board said Jonathan is owned by the St Helena government and lives in the specially built plantation on the governor's land.

He said: 'Jonathan is the sole survivor of three tortoises that arrived on St Helena Island in 1882.

'He was already mature when he arrived and was at least 50-years-old.

'Therefore his minimum age is 176-years-old. He is the oldest inhabitant on St Helena and is claimed to be the oldest living tortoise in the world.

'He lives in the grounds of Plantation House which is the governor's residence with five other tortoises who are much younger than him.

I am still wondering how they identified that the black and white tortoise is the same tortoise as in the coloured photo based on photographs as evidence.