Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak and wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor visited the scene of the landslide tragedy at Rumah Anak Yatim dan Anak Hidayah Madrasah At-Taqwa, Kampung Sungai Gahal in Hulu Langat, Selangor after arriving in Subang at 9.50am this morning. Najib was away on work visits to several countries including the US since May 13. The devastating landslide tragedy which occured last Saturday cost the lives of 16 people while nine others injured.
This was the assessment of the Public Works Department's Hillslope Engineering senior director Datuk Ashaari Mohamad.
He said there were 29mm of rainfall in the area on Thursday, 41mm on Friday and 80mm on Saturday.
"The amount of rainfall on Saturday was extraordinary because the normal level in the area is around 20mm. With such a downpour, a lot of water seeped into the soil causing the structure to be weakened."
He said this when briefing the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, on the landslide. The sultan handed over contributions from the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MUIS), Selangor Zakat Board (SZB) and the state government for the victims and their families.
Ashaari said on inspecting the area, they found water channels on the hillslope in the direction of the landslide site. He said the cutting of trees in the area had also contributed to the problem.
"There is still some soil movements here and rainfall can cause another landslide, so we have categorised this area as unsafe."
He said based on information received, the orphanage was only about seven metres away from the hillslope, which was between 25 and 30 metres high.
"About 3,500 cubic metres, or 600 lorry-loads, of soil had hit the orphanage, leaving a mound of loose soil of about four metres high and 54 metres wide."
Ashaari said the hillslope near the orphanage had also been cut, causing further soil instability.
"We want to closely examine the soil condition in the area and see how we can improve the soil structure.
"We have asked the local authority to monitor the housing areas around here as they are exposed to the same risk," he added.
From the RM217,000 contributed by MUIS and SZB, each family, or beneficiary of the victims, received RM5,000, while the survivors received RM1,000 each and the orphanage RM100,000.
The Selangor government also gave RM5,000 to each beneficiary.
