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. - BernamaBelow 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.
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.
"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."
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