Batang Kali landslide: Public Works Dept takes preventive measures

PUTRAJAYA: Short-term preventive measures, including covering the exposed slope with tarpaulin sheets, were carried out at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Batang Kali to avoid more landslides.

The Public Works Department said in a statement Sunday (Dec 18) that it was also diverting water flow at the surface and drains to avoid the water from entering the landslide area.

It also installed tilt sensors to monitor soil movement in the area.

These measures were taken after an initial inspection by the department’s slope forensics and engineering team revealed there was active underground water flow at the location, especially in the camping grounds.

"The results of the initial findings revealed two slope failures at the same location with intervals of 20 minutes to 30 minutes between them.

"The first slope failure most likely occurred at the campsite, which caused the toe of the road slope to weaken and led to the (second) larger landslide,” the department said.

The 300m-landslide at a height of 70m that hit the campsite at 2.42am Friday morning (Dec 16), moved an estimated 450,000 cubic metres of soil, resulting in the death of 24 victims so far, with nine still missing out of a total of 94 victims. A total of 61 people were saved.

The department’s findings also revealed that the road shoulder of B66 Section 13.0 from the direction of Gohtong Jaya heading to Batang Kali had fallen and was damaged by the slope failure.

There were long tension cracks on the left lane of the route heading to Batang Kali due to the landslide.

"Based on these findings, the highly saturated soil and high pore water pressure due to the collected underground water at the bottom of the slope at the campsite had weakened the toe of the B66 slope, and led to a retrogressive failure of the road slope,” the department said.

It also said that a detailed investigation is expected to be conducted at the site immediately after search and rescue operations are completed.

The B66 state road of Batang Kali-Genting Highlands route had also been completely closed on Dec 16 following the landslide at Section 13.0. - Bernama