Development in hilly areas induced slope stability – case history
Kamal Bahrin Jaafar, Amir Hamzah Mustapha, Suhaimi Jamaluddin & Yunus Marjan
ABSTRACT
Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, was developed on two different types of terrain—low-lying, flat areas for business centres and hillsides for residential and social activities. Kuala Lumpur started undergoing development in 1961 and gained city status in 1972. At the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur is a suburb called Hulu Klang, comprising residential developments in a very hilly area. Altogether the hills cover an area of approximately 100km². Since 1969, several landslide disasters have occurred on hills with a high concentration of housing developments. One of the major disasters occurred in 1993, when the 12-floor Highland Tower Condominium collapsed due to a landslide. The collapse claimed 48 lives. The latest landslide disaster happened in Bkt. Antarabangsa in December 2008, which destroyed 14 homes and took 5 lives. This paper provides a summary of actions that have been taken and measures that are to be implemented to reduce future landslide disasters in urban areas.
