2000 Trapped in Msia Landslide!

makapaaa · Dec 7, 2008

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 1 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>A massive landslide crushed homes and blocked the only access road near the top of Bukit Antarabangsa yesterday. The devestated site is just hundreds of meters from the abandoned Highland Towers, which collapsed in a 1993 landslide. -- PHOTOS: AP </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 2 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Rescuers evacuating an injured resident in Bukit Antarabangsa yesterday. The disaster happened at 4am when most people were still asleep. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 3 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>A rescue worker inspecting damage done to one of the 14 bungalows crushed in the landslide yesterday. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Four dead, 2,000 trapped
</TR><TR>Tragedy comes 5 days short of anniversary of 1993 landslide that killed 48 in same area </TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Hazlin Hassan, Malaysia Correspondent
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>

</TD><TD width=10>

</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>

A massive landslide crushed homes and blocked the only access road near the top of Bukit Antarabangsa yesterday. The devestated site is just hundreds of meters from the abandoned Highland Towers, which collapsed in a 1993 landslide. -- PHOTOS: AP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>

View more photos
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Bukit Antarabangsa, Selangor: Four people died and at least one other person was feared buried as a massive landslide crushed homes near Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Earth and boulders covered 14 bungalows and blocked the only access road near the top of Bukit Antarabangsa, trapping at least 2,000 residents.
Rescue workers had to cut a path through the bushes and use ropes to help residents walk to safety.
Some people had to cross a tiny makeshift bridge over a huge monsoon drain in order to get to the main road.
The disaster happened at 4am when most people were still asleep in Bukit Antarabangsa.
The hilly area is prone to landslides and has become notorious for questionable development since a 1993 landslide at the Highland Towers killed 48 people.
Heavy rains have inundated Kuala Lumpur and many parts of the Klang Valley recently.
Yesterday's tragedy came just five days short of the 15th anniversary of the collapse of the Highland Towers condominium. The abandoned building was just hundreds of metres from the site of yesterday's landslide.
Housewife Siti Baharuddin, 28, who lives near the devastated bungalows, told The Sunday Times that she saw cars and whole slabs of road tar ending up on rooftops.
She watched in horror as masses of earth crumpled houses.
'We just moved here. We never expected something like this to happen,' she said, as she comforted her crying nine-month-old daughter just outside the disaster scene.
A 45-year-old banker who was trapped in his home said by telephone that some of the wrecked bungalows were pushed 100m.
'We can't get out because there is a 'hill' now on what was the access road,' said the banker, who declined to be named. He and his family later used the path made by rescue workers to leave their home.
Helicopters hovered above as some 200 policemen, military personnel and medical workers at the scene searched for survivors.
Two pregnant women, two elderly women and a stroke patient were among those airlifted to safety.
Residents said that electricity and water supplies to the area have been cut off since dawn yesterday.
Energy, Water and Communications Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor told Bernama news agency that 16 electrical substations had been damaged.
Writer Yusuf Martin, 57, who just moved into the area with his wife a few months ago, said they were about to leave the house at 5am when they found that they were trapped.
'It is a really tragic sight,' he said. 'Houses are splintered apart, lifted and swept onto the road. The road is in pieces as well.'
There was chaos in the late morning as the only road in the
area was jammed with bulldozers, excavators and huge lorries going in.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 residents, mainly those living in condominiums close to the landslide
area, were also told to evacuate for their safety as the ground was unstable.
Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said that movements in the earth were still being detected when digging was carried out more than 12 hours after the landslide.
Hundreds of traumatised residents were seen leaving the area on foot, with babies in prams, luggage and pets in carriers.
A school hall and a nearby mosque were used as shelter for the homeless residents, but many sought to stay with relatives or friends.
Residents blamed deforestation, over-development of the area and the recent rains for the latest tragedy.
One resident was lucky to escape the brush with death.
The principal private secretary of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab, said he did not return home yesterday as planned but decided to spend the night at his mother's home.
His bungalow was among the 14 buried under the massive rubble.
'I thank God that I'm safe. Maybe it was God's will,' he told Bernama. [email protected]

makapaaa · Dec 7, 2008

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Phone rang in dead son's hand
</TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Kuala Lumpur - Mr Shaharuddin Adnan had hoped for the best when he called and heard his son's cellphone ringing.
Instead, his worst fears came true when he saw a hand, sticking out from the rubble of his collapsed house, holding the phone.
The 63-year-old retired businessman's home was one of the many crushed by the landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa yesterday morning.
His son Shaiful Khas, 20, was one of four who died in the disaster.
Also in his house at that time were his wife and a relative. Both survived.
Mr Shaharuddin said everybody was on the top floor of his double-storey house except for his son, who was playing computer games downstairs.
'At about 3am, I heard him shout, 'Why is the house moving?' Everything else was a blur as the house started to fall apart and collapse,' he said.
'When everything came to a stop, I found my wife and relative to be safe, but I could not locate Shaiful. So I decided to call him on his mobile phone and followed the ringing tone.'
He found his son buried under the rubble.
The rescue team came in with saws and other equipment, but Shaiful was already dead, said Mr Shaharuddin.
Engineer K. Thanarajah lost his wife N. Logeswari, 40, in the tragedy while his second son Thivesh, 10, suffered a spinal injury.
Mr Thanarajah fractured his arm, but his two other children escaped unhurt.
A relative said Madam Logeswari could have survived had she not rushed into Thivesh's room to save the boy.
'Walls started crumbling and the staircase broke, leaving them all stranded upstairs,' he said.
Another survivor, businessman Hassan Saad, 48, was watching television in his living room at 4am when he heard what sounded like strong wind.
Suddenly there was a sort of roar. He ran out of the house and saw the earth sliding down the hill slope and hitting his neighbour's house.
Mr Hassan shouted to wake up his family and alert his neighbours to run for their lives. His family of 10, including his mother-in-law and two cousins, managed to run to safety.
Mr Lian Wan Jian of Taman Bukit Mewah, who managed to flee to safety along with his family, believed they were saved only because of the location of his house.
'Maybe we were able to save ourselves because our house is at the end (of the row),' he told reporters. The Star/Asia News Network, Bernama

makapaaa · Dec 7, 2008

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 1 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>The ;andslide buried 14 bungalows, whose building plans will now be checked by officials. Permits to build further hillside developments have been frozen. -- PHOTO: AP

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 2 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>Roads and walkways were also damaged in the vulnerable area. Geologists' oft-repeated warnings of instability went unheeded by homebuyers. -- PHOTO: SIN CHEW DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=450 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>

<TR><TD width="33%">View all thumbnail</TD><TD class=georgia12 align=middle width="33%">Photo 3 of 3</TD><TD align=right width="33%">« Prev Next »</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=3>The Highland Towers collapse in 1993 was the worst of a string of landslide disasters which have claimed 64 lives around Bukit Antarabangsa in 15 years. -- ST FILE PHOTO </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Hillside area popular with homebuyers
</TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Teo Cheng Wee
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>

</TD><TD width=10>

</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>

The ;andslide buried 14 bungalows, whose building plans will now be checked by officials. Permits to build further hillside developments have been frozen. -- PHOTO: AP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>

View more photos
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Kuala Lumpur: Yesterday's disaster was not the first to hit Bukit Antarabangsa, an area known to some as Malaysia's Beverly Hills.
Landslides have claimed at least 64 lives around Bukit Antarabangsa in the last 15 years, including the four deaths yesterday - a toll that is almost certain to rise.
Geologists have long warned that it is highly vulnerable to heavy rainfall and landslides. Yet, developers have continued to build homes there and people have continued to buy them.
The first disaster that struck the area was the most serious.
On a quiet afternoon on Dec11, 1993, 10 days of continuous rainfall caused a massive landslide. One of two blocks of the Highland Towers toppled on its side.
The disaster killed 48 people, in what remains Malaysia's worst condominium collapse.
An Indonesian maid and a child were the only survivors found during a two-week-long rescue operation which gripped the nation, as TV channels broadcast the drama round the clock.
Yet the area - located on rolling Selangor hills about 10km east of downtown Kuala Lumpur - has remained popular among middle- and upper-class buyers for its greenery, fresh air and good views.
Insurance agent Thye Tat Tuen, 45, recently moved there with his wife and three children.
'We came here for the greenery. It's cool and nice,' he said.
After yesterday's tragedy, the authorities announced there would not be any more approvals for hillside developments. The federal government has frozen all permits for hillside developments, saying that preventive measures must be taken to avoid further disasters.
Local district councils in Selangor have also been put on high alert to ensure that their areas are safe from landslides. The Drainage and Irrigation Department has ordered a check into the building plans of the 14 bungalows which were buried by the landslide.
How effective this flurry of action is, remains to be seen. Local newspaper editorials have, in the past, slammed officials for coming out with warnings and recommendations only after each landslide tragedy has struck. Investigations, reports and promises followed, but few real measures were implemented, they said. The problem is also partly fuelled by demand from Malaysians, who continue to view Bukit Antarabangsa as a desirable place to live. Despite yesterday's landslide, Mr Thye has no plans to move out. 'Not every place here is prone to landslides,' he said. 'I think mine is on solid ground.'

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

wallace · Dec 7, 2008

Yesterday's tragedy came just five days short of the 15th anniversary of the collapse of the Highland Towers condominium.

Wow, doesn't look like that area is safe at all :(

2000 Trapped in Msia Landslide!

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)

wallace

Alfrescian

Similar threads