Apartment in Puchong threatened by landslide

About 300 residents of an apartment block, Pangsapuri Beringin, here had to vacate their units when a hill slope nearby collapsed for the second time.

The first incident occurred on Feb 19 but the residents claimed that repair works were completed late which resulted in a recurrence of the landslide at about 4.30pm today.

They said that a spokesman of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) had directed residents of the Block B apartment to evacuate to a hall nearby as a safety measure.

A resident, Siti Zaleha Dalli, 38, described the incident this time as even worse than the first one.

"I was told about the incident at about 4.30pm by my son before I noticed that a major section of the hill slope next to the building had collapsed," she told Bernama.

"I was made to understand that a sewage pipe and a water pipe had burst which aggravated the situation. The landslide was very near to my unit," said Siti Zaleha who expressed her disappointment at the repair works following the first incident which she claimed was rather slow.

"When such things happen, we cannot sleep peacefully for fear that the situation could endanger our lives. If it rains, we will be more worried because the soil will sink," she said.

Another resident, L.Vijayan, 31, also expressed disappointment because the repair works on the temporary retaining wall were merely a short-term solution.

"At about 2am I came to learn that there was a burst pipe. It was raining heavily then, but I did not expect the situation to turn this bad because I thought the temporary retaining wall could sustain the pressure, but this was not the case," he said.

A check by Bernama revealed that a section of the landslide had entered the back portion of a row of terrace-houses located near the Block B apartment.

Assistant Director of Operations of the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department, Mohd Sani Harul confirmed the incident and reported that there was no casualty.

The cause of the incident was still being investigated.