15 Areas In KL Feel The Tremors
bernama.com 30/3/2005
PUTRAJAYA, March 30 (Bernama) -- Fifteen areas in Kuala Lumpur were
reported to have felt the tremors following the earthquake measuring 8.5
on the Richter scale under the sea off north Sumatra Tuesday night, but
checks showed there was no damage to building structures.
Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Mohamed Isa Samad said the tremors
were mostly felt by residents in high-rise buildings in Bandar Tun Razak,
Batu, Lembah Pantai, Titiwangsa, Segambut and Seputeh.
"The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) rescue teams, which conducted checks on
the buildings after receiving telephone calls, confirmed that there were
no serious damage such as cracks caused by the tremors," he told reporters
after his ministry's post-cabinet meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Mohamed Isa said the ministry would also update its public announcement
system pertaining to disasters so that the notice could be issued faster
and in a more comprehensive manner to the people concerned.
"A good system is one where the notice is given much faster and covers a
wider area to ensure public safety," he said.
In Penang, the state government did not receive any report of cracks
especially on high-rise buildings in the state so far.
The Chief Minister's Political Secretary, Mark Ooi, said there were about
1,300 high-rise buildings in the state and it was difficult for the state
government to carry out checks on each of the buildings which contained
more than 50,000 housing units.
As such, members of the public who discovered any crack were asked to
report them to the authorities immediately, he told reporters after Chief
Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon received a courtesy call from the
Hungarian Ambassador to Malaysia, Tamas Toth and its new Consul General in
Penang, Datuk G.R. Faskerty, at his office.
Ooi said that for the government's public housing, complaints could be
made at the State Housing Division through telephone number 04-6505392
while for private housing projects which had received strata title,
reports could be made to the respective building management companies.
"For buildings which have yet to issue strata titles, the residents can
call the developers concerned to enable further checks to be carried out,"
he said.
He said that in urgent cases, they could get in touch with the Buildings
Department, Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) to get engineers to carry out
checks, at telephone number 04-2624400 or report the matter to the police
or the Penang Branch of the National Security Division.
A local newspaper Wednesday reported that minor cracks were detected on
several low-cost housing units at the Noordin Street Ghaut flats, here.
North-East District Police Chief ACP Hamzah Md Jamil, however, said
investigations revealed that they were old cracks and not caused by the
latest tremors.
-- BERNAMA |
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