Cracked pillar forces 300 from flats

The Star 5/12/2005

JOHOR BARU: The pillar of a four-storey low-cost flats in Skudai cracked, forcing some 300 dwellers to be evacuated.

A resident of Block 4 of the Taman Jaya flats, Atin Entoi, 48, said he felt the floor moving at 10.30pm on Saturday and thought there was an earthquake.

“I experienced a ‘sinking’ feeling,” said Atin, who lives on the top floor with his wife and three children, aged between two and 14.

The blacksmith said he would be spending the next few nights at a relative’s home and was planning to find another place to rent

Another resident, pipe-layer Umpi Akam, 33, was asleep when he heard “a loud bang.”

“My walls started to crack and I could see the steel rods inside the support pillar,” said Umpi, who is from Sibu.

Skudai assemblyman Teo Kok Chee, who visited the site yesterday, said the police and civil defence department had asked the residents to evacuate on Saturday night.

He said the support pillar might have cracked due to soil movement below the 20-year-old building, which houses 64 units.

“The Central Johor Baru Municipal Council has provided a hall for the evacuees to stay while we decide on what to do next.”

When contacted, Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun urged the residents to be patient while the authorities assessed the damage.

“Let the council come up with a technical report, then we will decide whether to repair or demolish the block,” she said.

State Public Works and Housing Committee chairman Datuk Baderi Dasuki said the preliminary technical report should be available today.