GEORGE TOWN: Residents of six houses in Taman Seri Rambai, Paya Terubong, have been told to vacate their homes after a landslide killed a 73-year-old doctor at the end unit of their row this morning.
Northeast deputy district officer Ismail Suhaimi Syarif said the residents would be relocated to a temporary evacuation centre at Dewan MPKK Paya Terubong for five days while the authorities awaited geotechnical reports to determine whether the houses were safe for occupation.
“We will vacate these houses for five days. We expect to receive the results in about three days before deciding whether the houses are safe to occupy.
“We will discuss the findings and assess the technical reports. If the houses are deemed unsafe, we may have to look for alternatives,” he told reporters at the scene.
He said the reports were being prepared by the Public Works Department (JKR), its slope division and the Minerals and Geoscience Department (JMG).
Suhaimi said about 15 people were affected, with each family comprising three or four members, although not all six houses were occupied. One owner who does not live in the area had come to collect his belongings and requested until this evening to clear them.
“He doesn’t live here. He came to collect his belongings but asked for until this evening to clear them, in case the situation gets worse,” he said.
The victim, Dr Wong Kar Lin, was pinned beneath concrete at the back of his kitchen at No. 1, Lebuh Rambai 13, with half his body buried in the soil. Rescuers located him at about 9am and recovered his body at 11.20am.
“The operation was quite complicated because the concrete was pressing down on the victim, who was also buried in the soil. We had to proceed carefully because of the pressure from the water and the soil,” Suhaimi said.
He said Wong’s wife and mother-in-law were in the house when the landslide struck and were rescued, while his 35-year-old son was away at the time and arrived later.
Suhaimi said the concrete that pinned Wong came from a wall in the rear kitchen, where he was believed to have been having breakfast when the landslide struck at about 8.30am.
“That’s why half of his body was crushed,” he said.
The landslide came down a slope beside a construction site directly above the row of houses, where a tower crane stood behind the site hoarding.
Suhaimi said initial findings indicated that a leaking drainage channel had been eroding the soil, while a blocked drain uphill had prevented water from flowing into the main drain, causing it to enter the house instead. A retaining wall had been planned for the slope but had not been built in time.
“The water came from uphill, where the drain was blocked. It couldn’t flow into the main drain, so it flowed into the house,” he said.
The ground was still moving in the afternoon, with muddy water flowing down the driveway of the victim’s house and across Lebuh Rambai 13.
The slope was to be covered with plastic sheeting from the top to prevent heavy rain from dislodging more soil.
“You can see the soil falling bit by bit. Even when it’s not raining, it falls. When it rains, even more so,” Suhaimi said.
Work at the bottom of the slope was halted because of the risks posed by the crane and a large concrete block at the site.
“If there’s ground movement, it could fall at any time. That’s why we’re not allowing work below the slope yet,” he said.
Suhaimi said 14 Fire and Rescue Department personnel were initially deployed, with about 40 personnel from various agencies involved by the end of the operation.
They included personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department, police, district health office, Malaysia Civil Defence Force and Northeast District and Land Office.
He added that the incident was classified as an accident rather than a disaster, as a disaster involved a larger-scale event.
Earlier, the Penang Fire and Rescue Department said it received an emergency call at 8.36am, and personnel from the Paya Terubong station arrived two minutes later. Wong was pronounced dead at 9.10am by Health Ministry personnel at the scene.
The landslide occurred after overnight rain in Penang caused flash floods, fallen trees and other slope-related incidents in several areas.