1,500 residents relocated

By GEETHA KRISHNAN

Photo by ROHAIZAT MD DARUS

THE residents evacuated on Thursday following the early morning landslide in Putrajaya have settled in their temporary homes.

Around 1,500 residents were moved from the Phase 11 Apartments in Precinct 9 to the vacant government quarters in Precinct 14.


A measure: Sheets placed over the hill slope in Precinct 9, Putrajaya, where the landslide recently occurred.
The evacuees who resided in three multi-storey apartment blocks near a hill slope are mainly civil servants.

Yesterday, activities of a different kind were witnessed at the vacated apartment blocks closely guarded by the police.

Various authorities were seen going about their work while a crane from SP Setia was stationed near the hill slope.

Sheets have been placed over the site where tonnes of earth, mud and undergrowth slid down and crushed 25 cars parked behind Block B in the 4.30am incident.

A handful of residents like KTM worker Mohamad Buyong, 49, and his wife Jamilah Awang, 49, were seen collecting their belongings from their apartment units under police escort.

“We were given 15 minutes to collect essential items like documents and clothes. I could barely think,” said Mohamad, a Block A resident.

A majority of the residents were transported to Precinct 14 in public buses provided by local authority Putrajaya Corporation.

The common area at where they are temporarily housed for a fortnight while awaiting the outcome of the report from the Public Works Department and Kumpulan Ikram Sdn Bhd (Public Works Institute of Malaysia) was a hive of activities.

Phase 11 Apartments Residents Association chairman Mohamad Tahir Mohd said 316 families had moved into the vacant quarters equipped with water, electricity and lifts.

He said Putrajaya Corporation also provided buses to ferry civil servants to work and their school-going children.

“The transfers were carried out smoothly and we are grateful to the various authorities for expediting the evacuation. Although no one was injured in the incident, a few of the senior citizens are sick and some are recovering from surgeries,” he added.

Most of the civil servants who were on two days of emergency leave were seen helping volunteers from the Malaysian Red Crescent Society prepare lunch.

Azlina Zaini, 27, Norhaina Badayamin, 25, and Jamil Ahmad, 48, decided to spend time assisting the residents.

“We miss our homes but are glad that everyone is safe. None of our cars were destroyed but a few of our friends lost their new cars, one had a five-week-old Gen-2 that was crushed in the landslide,” Azlina said.

Malaysian Red Crescent Society disaster management officer Abdul Kadir Khamis said 35 volunteers and officers were in charge of pre-paring four meals for 2,000 people, including residents and the authorities.

The residents have been placed at five apartment blocks.

Meanwhile, Syabas said it had sent technical officers to conduct a thorough inspection on the landslide at Prescint 9.

Syabas corporate affairs manager Abdul Halem Mat Som said since the company took over the services, it had been conducting scheduled checks on the facilities at the hill slope, including the water tank it had , and did not find any leakages on the tank.

“We have sent our engineers to carry out a thorough investigation to identify the cause of the landslide and will submit a report to the relevant authorities for further action,” he said in a recent statement.