Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email If earlier report said only 30% of buildings in Klang Valley was exposed to earthquake damage, the report by Assoc Prof Taksiah Abdul Majid, supervisor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)’s Disaster Research Unit is terrifying!
She said that less than one percent of buildings in Malaysia are built according to specifications that take earthquakes into consideration!
Taksiah, who is a leading researcher in earthquakes, said from the unit’s research most buildings did not take the earthquake factor into consideration assuming that Malaysia was not exposed to the risk of earthquakes.“Malaysia rarely experiences strong earthquakes and that factor causes many specifications for building construction to pay not much attention to earthquakes.
“However, we cannot be complacent as Kuala Lumpur is just 300km from Sumatra which frequently experiences strong earthquakes,” she said.
She said among buildings that followed specifications related to earthquakes were the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers, the Penang Bridge and the Komtar building.
Taksiah said her unit was preparing building guidelines to be forwarded to the government in efforts to ensure that every building took into consideration the risk of earthquakes.
“The guidelines have been drawn up and are in the process of final checking before being forwarded to parties involved and so that proactive steps towards preventing an unforseen incident can be implemented,” she said.
