PETALING JAYA: The landslide in Ampang that claimed four lives on Thursday could have been prevented with proper coordination between agencies and a disaster management system, according to experts.
Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo, chairman of the Academy of Professors Malaysia’s environment and sustainability cluster, said the risk of landslides in Ampang had always been there as it was developed on hilly areas.
“Ampang is located at the foot of Banjaran Titiwangsa, so when you do development at hilly areas, it requires slope-cutting and ponds. Engineers will analyse the slope stability, and if the risk is too high, they will not proceed with the development,” he explained.
Another reason for landslides in Ampang, Prof Ibrahim noted, was the geological conditions in the area, which is filled with weather rock granite that has a mix of sand and silt.
“This condition allows it to absorb and store water, and when oversaturation happens, it will lead to slope failure. This is evident as we can see from videos that the soil flows like liquid as it has a high volume of water. That’s also why if a person gets buried underneath, the chances of survival are slim because it is as if the person is drowning in water,” he said.
The landslide-prone Ampang was hit again on Thursday evening, this time in the vicinity known as Taman Bukit Permai.
Ampang was also the site of the Highland Towers collapse in 1993, which claimed 48 lives.
In September last year, 19 double-story terrace houses along Jalan Kemensah Heights were affected by a landslide.
Prof Ibrahim said he believed that the latest incident in Ampang could have been due to human negligence.
“To prevent landslides from happening, we need to first identify the type of slopes, whether it is a natural, cut or fill slope.
“A natural slope is an act of God. If it collapses then we say that it is a natural disaster, but if we cut the slope then we need to have certain measures to protect the slope such as retaining walls and a proper drainage system.
“This area appears to be near a cut slope and it has no retaining wall: meaning it is human negligence; even if they have one and the wall collapses, it means that there is a design failure (on the slope).”
Prof Ibrahim said the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council should conduct a survey to identify high-risk slopes.
“If not, they need to advise developers to rectify the areas, “ he said.
Malaysia Geology Institute president Abdul Rasid Jaafar said the authorities should be transparent with information on areas with a high risk of landslides.
“We have been experiencing this since 1993. We talked about it for a while then it went silent until we had another incident.
“The government has identified hotspot areas, for example, in Ampang, Bukit Antarabangsa, Cameron Highlands and Ipoh, so to say that we have no information is incorrect, the authorities have all the information but why the recurrence?” he questioned.
Abdul Rasid said the authorities had failed to invest in disaster-risk management, which, among others, included the need to educate the public about how they could help to monitor signs of an impending landslide.
“It is so simple, we may not need retaining walls or engineering worth millions, we just have to engage with the communities.
“We may not be able to prevent landslides but when we talk about dealing with the risk, then death and extreme loss of property are the things that we want to avoid.”
He pointed out that Bukit Antarabangsa had a group called ‘Slope Watch’ that helped the local authorities monitor slopes in high-risk areas.
The authorities, Abdul Rasid added, could also install early warning systems to alert the people of possible landslides.
“It can be based on the rain threshold value or use other tools to monitor slope movement.
“In Thailand, they call it community-based monitoring. It is very simple, they place wood or bamboo plants and when the people see that it is tilted they will inform the authorities,” he said.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Centre of Tropical Geoengineering (Geotropik) director Prof Dr Edy Tonnizam Mohamad said the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) should be more proactive in its role in facing natural disasters.
“If we look at the recent floods, the Meteorological Department sent an alert on heavy rains but the public wouldn’t know the specific areas, Nadma should make use of all this information and alert the public.
“As long as we don’t have an agency that is responsible for managing natural disasters and monitoring high-risk slopes, landslides will continue to occur,” he said.