When rocks rained down on homes

30/08/2008 The Star By Stuart Michael

IT was a narrow escape and a terrifying experience for residents of about 50 houses at Bandar Alam Perdana in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, when their homes were hit by rocks the size of a football on Thursday evening.

Although many houses were damaged, it was fortunate that there was no loss of life and only a few people were slightly injured.

There are 156 houses in the area. A quarry located just 500 metres away was blasting rocks at that time.

Holes in the wall: The owners of the affected houses are still seething.

According to several residents, the rocks were raining on their houses like bombs being dropped from fighter planes, causing much damage to the walls, roofs, grilles, gates and air-conditioners. A rock also shattered the windscreen of a car.

House owner Soh Kok Wai, who was at home at the time when the incident occurred, said there were vibrations when the first blasting happened at 2pm.

“Within half an hour, there was second blasting and this time I was outside the house while my father was in the kitchen,” he said.

“The earth shook under my feet and when I turned to look at the quarry and saw rocks flying towards my house. I took cover behind the wall and within a few seconds my house was hit,” Soh said.

“My father was in the kitchen. An Indonesian worker, who was fixing the lights in my house, was injured on his head and hands,’’ he said.

Serious damage: One of the houses affected by the blasting.

A furious and worried Soh blamed the developer Mahajaya Berhad for allowing the quarry to operate so near the residential area.

Soh said he had planned to move into his house next Wednesday when the renovation on his RM350,000 house was scheduled to be completed.

“We were lucky that no one was staying in the house when this happened. We want the quarry to be closed to stop the blasting once and for all,” he said.

“We are not interested in a temporary solution but a permanent one. My house does not look stable now,’’ he said.

According to Baljit Singh, the residents have been filing complaints over the last two years on cracks on their houses and it usually takes about six months for the developer to respond.

“We will only be happy if the blastings are stopped completely. We fear that our houses will collapse one day because the foundation will be affected by the frequent blastings,’’ he said.

Chan Chin Tong wants to know what the developer will do now that the situation has gone into a critical stage.

“Can the developer ensure us that there will not be rocks falling on our houses from now on?” he asked.

“The only solution I see is for the blastings to be stopped permanently,’’ he said.

Yesterday, the furious residents stormed into the Mahajaya sales office demanding that the quarry be closed.

Mahajaya managing director William Tan said the quarry had temporarily stopped the blasting, pending an investigation by the company.

“We had an adjuster to take the reports from the residents, who can claim the damage from us. We are also keen to solve the problem immediately,” Tan said.