News

Landslide Off Genting Was Reportedly Caused by Underground Water

2022-12-19 , 6:34 pm

An investigation of the landslide that caused 24 deaths and nine missing victims revealed that the disaster occurred due to underground water.

Here’s what happened.

What Happened?

To recap, a landslide occurred on 16 December on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, at Selangor state’s Jalan Batang Kali. The disaster happened at 3 am near Father’s Organic Farm farmhouse.

The farmhouse provided camping facilities, which meant that many campers fell victim to the natural disaster. According to the latest update, the landslide has caused 24 deaths, while nine victims are still missing. 61 people managed to survive the landslide.

You can read more about the incident here.

Active Underground Water Found

Malaysia’s Public Works Department has been investigating the incident and revealed today that underground water was the cause of the landslide.

The high soil saturation, along with pressure from the accumulated underground water under the site, caused the landslide to occur.

Additionally, investigations showed that it wasn’t just one landslide: there were actually two. The first slope failure occurred at the campsite.

The first landslide caused the area at the bottom of the slope to weaken, resulting in a second larger landslide after 20 to 30 minutes.

Road Damaged

It has been estimated that the landslide was about 70m tall, 120m wide, and 330m long. It added up to about 450,000 cuber metres of soil.

This major landslide caused damage to the roads in the Batang Kali-Genting Highlands route. Specifically, Road 66 Section 13.0 was damaged, with tension cracks appearing and broken roadside drains. Thankfully, there was no damage to the drainage systems.

The road has been closed since 16 December for repairs.

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Repair Works Underway

The Malaysian authorities moved quickly to prevent further landslides and have implemented short-term repair works.

This includes covering the exposed slope with a tarpaulin sheet and preventing surface runoff from entering the rubble. They also redirected surface drainage water and installed sensors to monitor ground movement at the site.

Once search and rescue operations have wrapped up, a more detailed ground investigation will begin.