Landslide near IIUM Gombak male dormitory first ever incident since its founding

KUALA LUMPUR: The landslide near the Mahallah Zubair male dormitory of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Gombak, here, which occurred following heavy rains at 6 pm yesterday, was the first ever such incident since its establishment in 1983.

IIUM public relations officer Roslan Rusly said the university had taken proactive measures immediately after learning of the incident that occurred at Block C of the Mahallah Zubair (male dormitory) by relocating 128 students to other dormitories for safety reasons.

He said university personnel had gone to the location during the incident and evacuated all students to an empty block as they feared the building structure was compromised and unsafe.

"Firefighters came yesterday and made an initial assessment of the building structure. Besides them, the Selayang Municipal Council, the Public Works Department and the university's development unit also monitored the buidling," he told Bernama today.

Meanwhile, landscape architecture student, Faris Syahmi A. Rahman, 20, shared the harrowing experience he went through during the incident he thought would never have ever happened to him.

"I really did not expect a landslide to happen at a nearby block and the university took swift action by evacuating students to other residences," he said.

Computer science student, Azrin Saedi, 28, concurred, saying that he did not hear any sound from the landslide that occurred near his dormitory block when it happened..

"There was heavy rain at 6 pm yesterday and I only learnt of the incident through a WhatsApp message shared by dormitory mates.

"The IIUM management covered the affected area of the landslide with a canvass and did not allow anyone to enter the area," he said.

Checks by Bernama at the area found that drains and the area around the dormitory car park were covered with mud stains due to soil erosion.

Bernama reported yesterday that around 128 students from the dormitory were ordered to evacuate the building after a road collapse and landslide were detected near the building.

The incident was detected around 6.45 pm following student complaints in the area, and checks revealed that around five square metres of road had collapsed, with a depth of around three metres.

-- BERNAMA