GEORGE TOWN: Five families in Hong Seng Estate in Mount Erskine were busy packing their stuff at their badly damaged houses before the authorities moved in to carry out the ground structure stabilising work.
Housewife Foo Siew Chu, 50, said she was told to vacate her house by Sunday as its structures were not safe.
“I have been busy packing my stuff to be sent to a friend’s house, also in Hong Seng Estate, because we did not have much time to plan. We did not even have time to look for a lorry to transfer my things,” she said yesterday.
Foo said the state government had arranged a temporary shelter for her family of four, and she would be moving to a flat unit in Macallum Street.
“I have no idea how long it would take for the repair works to be completed,” she said.
Seven houses in Hong Seng Estate were affected by soil erosion – four units were affected directly.
Out of the four units, three houses have cracks on walls and the ground, and the compound in the other house had caved in.
The other three homes were affected indirectly as their units were sharing the same roof with the three units that had cracked walls and ground.
A consultant engineer, Datuk Lim Kok Khong, said the incident was caused by soil erosion due to running water underneath, which formed a void under the road surface and buildings.
He said the dismantling work process needed to be carefully mapped out so that it did not endanger the people working around the building.
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