THE worst fears of residents at Jalan Kasawari 7, Bandar Puchong Jaya, came true yesterday when a landslide swept away the back portion of 12 homes in the neighbourhood. 

For years, residents have been living in fear following minor soil erosion and crack marks seen in their backyard drains. 

Numerous complaints have been made before and the residents were assured that the earth was stable.  

Police officers sealing off the houses after residents moved out their belongings.

Yesterday, between 6am and 7am, when the residents were about to get ready for work, they heard earth rumblings. Before long, the soil came tumbling down and destroyed the concrete backyards of several houses. 

Immediately, the residents contacted the fire department, police, and the developer. By 8am, most of the authorities had arrived at the scene and started assessing the damage. 

Residents Assocation (RA) deputy president for Mahkota and Suria homes at Jalan Kasawari Cheow Wee said houses numbering 21 to 43 were affected. 

“Those affected today are the Suria homes, which have one-and-a-half storeys.  

“This is the biggest landslide that has occurred. Previously, other minor incidents have happened,” said Cheow. 

Properties were damaged but no casualties were involved. 

Fire department operations chief Abd Wahab Ariffin, who is from the fire station at Section 7, Petaling Jaya, said they received calls from residents who had heard noises of earth falling. 

“We cannot ascertain what is the cause of this, as it is not our area of expertise,” said Abd Wahab. 

Cheow...‘previously, other minor incidents have happened.’

He brought along seven personnel for the operation.  

“Right now, I've advised the affected residents to immediately relocate as the earth is still moving which makes the erosion at quite a dangerous level,” said Abdul Wahab. 

Resident Ann Lee, whose house was damaged, said she received a call at about 8.30am from her daughter at home while she was at work. 

“I rushed back and was shocked to see that my backyard and part of my kitchen had collapsed.  

“They have asked us to relocate, but where can we go? This is my home,” said Lee. 

Kinrara assemblyman Dr Kow Cheong Wei, who was present at the scene, said a technical and crisis management meeting chaired by Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) president Adnan Mohd would discuss the rescue of the slope and immediate action to be taken.  

“The advice from firemen is that the 12 affected units have to be vacated immediately, while MPSJ engineers have advised the residents to leave their houses before it rains. 

“We've also made a decision to call the contractor to block the drains that are flowing into the landslide area,” said Dr Kow. 

He added that police would seal off the place after residents had moved out.  

Dr Kow said he would help allocate council homes in Bandar Kinrara 6 to those without alternative accommodation. 

So far, three of the 12 families have confirmed they will move into the council homes. 

“I had a few discussions with the developer and consultants and feel that the slope management is the cause of the landslide,” said Dr Kow, adding that the earth rubble had reached the depth of 30 ft. 

IOI property division general manager Lee Thian Yew said he had sent infrastructure and building engineers to study the incident, but said he could not ascertain the cause of it at press time. 

A spokesman for IOI said the property had already been handed over to MPSJ and the company should not be held responsible for the incident.