Govt advised to monitor slopes more often
SHAH ALAM - The government needs to conduct comprehensive monitoring in high-risk areas to avoid incidents such as landslides at the campsite in Batang Kali from recurring.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Geology Engineering and Soil Mechanics expert Dr Nor Shahidah Mohd Nazer said the slopes need to be monitored more often because when it moved, it would happen at a very high and fast rate.
In fact, she said, if the incident happened, people would not have time to do anything which caused them to be trapped.
"We understand that the risk map sometimes does not include areas like this in the high-risk disaster (category).
"So, they do not put a lot of emphasis on this kind of slope because there is no permanent human settlement around it.
"Given the extreme weather changes, this kind of area will definitely be affected and we have users either for tourism or those who travel by road," she told Sinar, yesterday.
Dr Shahidah said landslides are not like flood disasters because everyone knows when the water would rise, in addition, people would have the time to evacuate.
"Like now, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has warned that there will be continuous heavy rain. So, there needs to be a follow-up action when it rains heavily.
"Even though it does not show the failing characteristics, the slope has the potential to collapse due to the weakened inner part," he said.
Dr Shahidah also stated that there should be control over the slope area that is targeted to be used as a tourist site.
"The concept of ecotourism itself is good but if we don't build any appropriate mitigation system, this is what we get (landslides).
“The slopes have the potential to move," she explained.
