Highland Towers collapse

Highland Towers collapse

Remaining of the towers in 2012.
Time 1:35 pm MST
Date 11 December 1993; 23 years ago
Location Bukit Antarabangsa, Ampang, Selangor
Cause Landslide caused by continuous rainfall
Deaths 48

The Highland Towers collapse was an apartment building collapse that occurred on 11 December 1993 in Taman Hillview, Ulu Klang, Selangor, Malaysia. The collapse of Block One of the apartments caused the deaths of 48 people and led to the complete evacuation of the remaining two blocks due to safety concerns. On 11 December 2010, coinciding with the seventeenth anniversary of the incident, AETN's History Channel showed an hour-long documentary on the tragedy, with accounts from the victims, their families and former residents.

Background

The Highland Towers consist of three 12-storey blocks, built in phases between 1974 and 1982 at the western base of a steeply sloped hill which was later terraced extensively in the early 1980s. Each block was respectively named:

A swimming pool was located between northwest side of Block 2 and northeast rear of Block 3. Block 1 collapsed after 10 continuous days of rainfall led to a landslide after the retaining wall behind the Tower's car park failed.

The towers were home to affluent middle-class families; a sizeable percentage of the residents were expatriates. The Highland Towers were notorious in the 1980s and early 1990s for being a popular spot for the wealthy people to hide their mistresses.

Cause of structural failure

Behind the Towers was a small stream of water known as East Creek. East Creek flowed into the site of the Towers before the Towers' construction, so a pipe system was built to divert the stream to bypass the Towers.

In 1991, a new housing development project, known as Bukit Antarabangsa Development Project, commenced construction on the hilltop located behind the Towers. The hill was cleared of trees and other land-covering plants, exposing the soil to land erosion that is the leading factor of causing land slides.

The water from the new construction site was diverted into the existing pipe system used to divert the flow of East Creek. This overloaded the pipe system and water, sand and silt from both East Creek and the construction site infiltrated the pipes. The pipes burst at several locations on the hill, and the surrounding soil had to absorb the excessive water. The monsoon rainfall in December 1993 further worsened the situation.

The water content in the soil became over-saturated to the extent that the soil had turned viscous, in effect becoming mud. By October 1992, the hill slope had been saturated with water, and water was seen flowing down the hill slopes and the retaining walls.

Shortly thereafter, a landslide took place and destroyed the constructed retaining walls. The landslide contained an estimated 100,000 square metres of mud – a mass equivalent to 200 Boeing 747 jets. The soil rammed onto the foundation of Block One, incrementally pushing it forward. After a month of this constant pressure, the foundations snapped and in November 1993, residents began to see cracks forming and widening on the road around the Highland Towers, a forewarning of collapse. Unfortunately, there was no further investigation before Block 1 collapsed on 11 December 1993.

Fatalities

The official death toll released by the authorities was 48, though other sources gave a number greater than 55. The victims are mainly Malaysians, with 12 foreigners (a Briton, a Japanese, 2 Indians, 2 Koreans, 3 Filipino and 3 Indonesian). Among the victims were Carlos Abdul Rashid (son of former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam) and his wife, Rosina Datuk Abu Bakar.[1]

  • Rohana Bano Mushtak Ahmad, 29
  • Kak Ton Consist, 17
  • Nursyafiq Bin Nordin, 22
  • Muhammad Amir Faiz Bin Mohd Nazri, 22
  • Mohammad Adam, 6 months
  • Carlos Abdul Rashid (son of former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Musa Hitam) and his wife, Rosina Datuk Abu Bakar.
  • Korean woman, Bahk Jung Soon, 45, and her daughter Bahk Hee Won.
  • Koh Yuet Met
  • Gene Koh Wai Keong, 15
  • Brandon Koh Wai Hong, 6
  • Daryl Koh Wai Kin, 3.
  • Yap Kien Seng, 18.
  • Yap Woei Ning
  • Yap Hsiao Mei, 18 and her mother – Wong Mee Thai, 35
  • Datin Milly Lee, 55
  • Teo Tea
  • Ong Yong, 53
  • Douglas Ong Tee Ming, 17.
  • Fatimah Abdul Majid, 66
  • Che Mariam Abdul Majid, 76
  • Noranira Mohamed Nor, 15
  • Nik Mohamed Baharuddin, 41
  • Shizue Nakajima, 50 (rescued alive, but died with severe internal injuries in hospital)
  • Dr Anne George,
  • Debbie George
  • Sharon George
  • Majnawiyah Masnawi, 25
  • Amirah Nor Hamzah, 15
  • Fergus Phang Thien Liang, 26
  • Phang's mother, Ivy Lim Ai Bee
  • Phang's grandmother, Cheng Kim Tai
  • Trimah Ngarijo
  • Yusna Anuar
  • Farah Aruzi
  • Lee Mun Lin
  • Tony Lou Yoke Yong
  • Adrian Lou Chung Wei
  • Barry Lou Ka Wei
  • Sajjive Chandran
  • Prakash Chandran
  • Radha Chandran
  • Quah Li Jun
  • Chiew Poh Wah
  • Goh Fong Kiew
  • Judith Mosquiter
  • Suharti Kusban
  • Aribinda Datta
  • Rita Datta
  • Mohan Raj
  • Sundar Moorthi

Rescuers heard knocking and voices right up to the seventh day after the collapse, but only three people, including an infant, were pulled out from the rubble alive, and only within the first 24 hours. One of them died later in hospital.

Chronology of events

Legacy and recent history

In November 2002, almost nine years after the incident, a bungalow belonging to Affin Bank chairman General (Retired) Tan Sri Ismail Omar collapsed due to a landslide. It was located just metres away from the towers.

On 11 December 2004, in conjunction with the eleventh anniversary of the tragedy, all former residents and victims of the Highland Towers gathered at the site as a final farewell, after knowing that the property will be transferred to AmBank.

Later, on 6 December 2008, just five days short of the 15th anniversary of the incident, another landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa took place just 1.5 kilometres away from Highland Towers. The landslide buried 14 bungalows. All these incidents occurred late in the year, at the height of the northeastern monsoon season when heavy rainfall is common.

After the tragedy, The Highland Towers memorial stone was placed at the site of Block 1, but it was a victim of much vandalism. The abandoned Blocks 2 and 3 of the Highland Towers still stand as of August 2014, but they have been the site of much vandalism and the buildings are now in complete disarray and near ruin. In 1998, five years after the tragedy, a team from the Court in charge of the lawsuit visited the Towers and found out all contents of its tower (e.g. balcony grill/window glasses) have been stripped off, leaving it just a naked structure.

Today, the remaining buildings have become haven for criminals, drug addicts and mat rempits as the abandoned buildings was used by them as temporary shelter as been reported by nearest residents.[2] On 12 April 2016, three criminals was shot dead by police near the buildings.[3] The towers also was reportedly haunted as been claimed by the residents.[4]

Plans of redevelopment

There were plans to repair the two remaining blocks and re-occupy them back in 1995, but inspection has revealed that the blocks were no longer structurally safe and demolition was the only option, as the other 2 buildings will collapse at any time. As of present, the remaining blocks of Highland Tower still steadfast, not demolished and remain abandoned.

See also

References

  1. Highland Tower First-week news report
  2. S. Puspadevi (10 April 2012). "Residents living near Highland Towers worry about their safety". The Star. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  3. Hani Shamira Shahrudin (12 April 2016). "Three suspected robbers shot dead near Highland Towers, 3 others escape". New Straits Times. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  4. Shalini Ravindran (12 December 2013). "Highland Towers: Ghostly town in many ways". The Star. Retrieved 13 April 2016.

Further reading

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