Stephanie Sta Maria | May 30, 2011 Free Malaysia Today
The situation in Bukit Antarabangsa is serious as the slope failures or shallow landslides are indications of an impending bigger landslide.
KUALA LUMPUR: Double landslides occurred side by side in Bukit Antarabangsa, Hulu Kelang, Selangor, 10 days ago but escaped public attention for both struck on the same day as the Hulu Langat tragedy.
As rescue personnel and the media rushed to the Madrasah Al-Taqwa Orphanage, business owners and employees watched mounds of wet earth sliding down the slope behind their commercial centre in Taman Ukay Perdana.
Unlike Hulu Langat, however, no property damages or injuries took place in the Bukit Antarabangsa incident.
The Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) moved swiftly in dispatching a team from its hillslope division to begin immediate work in containing the situation and repairing the slope.
MPAJ is currently the only authority with an existing hillslope division which was formed after the 2008 Bukit Antarabangsa landslide, which claimed five lives.
When FMT visited the site last Friday a large tarpaulin sheet blanketed the landslide on the left. There had been a downpour that morning and workers swarmed the top of the slope hauling the sheet higher to better secure its position.
The other landslide, however, remained exposed. The slope face had previously been protected by a concrete structure which had gradually disintegrated over time. The rain had now rendered this raw surface slick once again.
Of greater concern was the row of small businesses fronting both landslides. None of them had been instructed or were compelled to temporarily cease operations.
Cars still filled the corner workshop and lined the affected roads. People continued patronising the outlets along the stretch. Personnel at the Ukay police station, directly across the covered landslide, were equally unperturbed.
The Public Works Department (PWD), meanwhile, has assured that the situation is under control and that there is no cause for alarm.
“This is just a small erosion and small debris flow,” Professor Ashaari Mohamad, director of PWD slope engineering branch, told FMT. “Once repair work has started it will not pose any danger to the shop houses.”
But Associate Professor Tajul Anuar Jamaluddin, a geological expert at the South East Asia Disaster Prevention Research Institute in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), had a different opinion.
After viewing photos of the landslides, he ranked its severity as a nine on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being extremely risky.
“This is very serious,” he said. “And it’s not an erosion. Those are slope failures or shallow landslides which are good indicators of an impending bigger landslide. My advice is to get in touch with the PWD slope engineering branch immediately.”
When asked if an evacuation order was necessary, Tajul said that he couldn’t say for sure without proper inspection of the slope.
“But if I were in the place of those shops owners I wouldn’t stay open, especially when it rains, until firm action is taken to rectify the situation,” he added.