Leave the hills alone ...

Malaysians do not seem to know their hills. Hills in Malaysia are capped with overburden of red earth formed from the weathering of granite or shale which is the usual bedrock. This red earth is not stable since it contains embedded boulders of granite. Disturbing this granite capping results in destabilising the whole formation. In the presence of water from continuous heavy rainfall, this capping easily slides down. 

The hills in Ampang, especially in the Ulu Klang area, are notorious for having major land slides for many years. Houses and even apartments have been the victims of landslide in the past 50 years or so. Yet, developers keep on disturbing the natural formation by building houses and high rise buildings. They have not learnt the lessons of the Highlands tower collapse nor the destruction of houses by landslides in the past. To be blamed too are the authorities that approved the development plans. But the biggest blame must land squarely on the people who lived in those houses and apartments. Why they like to live on hill slopes or at the feet of filled slopes is beyond me. Simple common sense should warn them of the hazards of living in such areas.

Don't Malaysians still not know that rainfall in this country is high. It's so high that almost every year, floods and landslides are a common phenomena. But the lure of living in high rise areas, like the so called "Heights" seem to fall on deaf hears when residents are warned of landslide dangers.

From the pictures in the newspapers, I note that the slides are made of filled earth not in situ earth. In fact, the abandoned houses from the area where the slide started were sitting on earth fills rather than solid earth cuts. Were the developers of the abandoned housing scheme ignorant of this fact ?

To continue ...