Hundreds fear for their lives
29/03/2007 NST By Sim Bak Heng

JOHOR BARU: Hundreds of flat dwellers at Taman Flora Height in Pasir Gudang have been living on the edge since January.

Blasted rocks as big as three metres in diameter from a nearby hill have landed on a road just 10 metres from the flats. The rocks have yet to be cleared since they were blasted last year.

In January, heavy rainfall caused a landslide at the hill slope, triggering fears that the remaining rocks would roll down anytime due to erosion.

Housewife Noraisah Roslaini, 39, said she could not sleep in peace for the past two months as there were still several huge rocks on the edge of the eroded hill.

"The earth on the hill slope does not appear to be stable. If it gets loosened, it could cause huge rocks to fall and hit our flats," she said.
Noraisah’s fears are understandable as she stays in one of the ground floor units which is nearest to the fallen rocks.

There are seven blocks of five-storey low-cost flats in the housing estate. Block 7 is nearest to the hill. There is a water tank on the hill.

Another resident, Nor Yazid Soid, 33, said there were minor landslides in the area four years ago, adding that the situation had worsened since last January when there was another landslide.

He said the flats were located too near the hill.

"Although there are parking lots down the hill, nobody dares risk parking there.

"I hope the authorities or the developer will do something to remove the huge rocks and build a retaining wall before it is too late."

Another housewife, Fatimah Rosli, 35, said her three children used to play along the road every afternoon but have stopped doing so after seeing the rocks.

A spokesman for the Pasir Gudang Local Authority said the developer, Bazaria Sdn Bhd, had been tasked with clearing the rocks and building a retaining wall.

Bazaria managing director Wong Boon Lang said all the fallen rocks would be removed by next week and they would start building a retaining wall early next month.