Don: 190 moved out from hostel due to damaged roof

Students’ safety first: Dr Adnan showing the remnants of the dismantled roof at the girls’ hostelin Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: A damaged roof at a girls’ hostel has forced Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to evacuate 190 students from the block at its main campus here.

The university will also be moving out 160 more students in the next few days.

USM deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Prof Datuk Dr Adnan Hussein denied that the roof of the Bakti Permai Cahaya Gemilang H34 hostel had collapsed as claimed in a posting on social media.

The posting which included photos by a USM student had gone viral on Wednesday.

Dr Adnan said the photos were taken after the evacuation of the students from all the four floors of the hostel’s left wing and after the roof dismantling works had began.

“Last week, the university received a complaint from a student regarding a leak in her room located on the fourth floor of the hostel’s left wing.

“Based on inspections carried out by the University’s Development Department, it was found that the roof of the wing needed to be replaced as there was extensive damage.

“We immediately evacuated the students in the left wing, moving them to other hostels in the campus and started removing the damaged roof,” he told a press conference at USM yesterday.

Dr Adnan added that the department found that the roof of the hostel’s right wing is also not in good condition.

When asked about the cause of the damage, Dr Adnan said there could be many contributing factors.

“We have yet to pinpoint a particular reason but the building was built in 1984. So after 32 years, there will definitely be some wear and tear.

“The weather could also be another factor,” he said, adding that further inspections were needed to confirm the actual reason behind the damage.

Dr Adnan also said it would take three months to fix the roof as the damage was extensive.

“Our main priority is the safety and comfort of the students. Now that they have been moved to other hostels, we can concentrate on repairing the damage,” he said.

He said USM would also conduct similar checks on all the other buildings which were built around the same time in the campus.