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Showing posts from December, 2008

HOT AIR STILL BLOWING OVER BUKIT ANTARABANGSA?

Pakar-pakar geologi dan alam sekitar berkerumun di kawasan tanah runtuh di Bukit Antarabangsa untuk memulakan siasatan minggu ini bagi mengenalpasti punca tragedi pada 6 Disember lepas yang meranapkan 14 buah kediaman, mengorbankan nyawa empat penghuninya dan memaksa ribuan penduduk di kejiranan sekitarnya berpindah ke kawasan selamat. Hasil siasatan itu dan langkah-langkah keselamatan yang bakal dicadangkan hanya akan diketahui tiga bulan lagi. Sehingga itu, lima kawasan di sekitar lokasi tanah runtuh itu ditakrifkan sebagai Zon Merah yang amat berbahaya. Sekali lagi kajian akan tertumpu kepada kawasan yang sebelum ini telahpun dikenalpasti sebagai sebahagian daripada jalur gelinciran bumi semulajadi di Semenanjung Malaysia yang disebabkan oleh pergerakan tektonik jutaan tahun dahulu. Ini dirumuskan dalam laporan siasatan tragedi runtuhan Kondominium Highland Towers yang terletak di lereng sebelah selatan Bukit Antarabangsa, tidak sampai dua kilometer dari lokasi tanah runtuh hujung m

OF TRAGEDY AND HOT AIR

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It has been a week since Mother Nature unleashed her fury in Bukit Antarabangsa. A pre-dawn landslide last Saturday flattened 14 houses in its path, killed four occupants and forced thousands of residents -- old and young, able-bodied and crippled -- to evacuate their homes. The site of the landslide is a mere 200 metres from our home. Like other families in the vicinity, we were awakened at 4am by a loud rumble, then heard calls for help and minutes later, sirens from rescue vehicles dispatched to the scene. A helicopter or two hovered above with searchlight scanning the ground. I took the following pictures over the past few days as a reminder of the aftermath of this disaster, when man fail to honour nature. Alhamdulillah, we were not directly affected by the landslide but I decided to vacate our home all the same. Hours after the incident, the authorities warned of unstable soil on the slopes. Since the situation was uncertain and warnings were issued ever so often that Saturday, w

AWESOME...SIMPLY AWESOME!

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I was driving into our apartment’s parking area when my eldest daughter spotted an incredible stellar phenomenon last night, December 1. “Look, the moon is smiling. Two eyes and a smile,” said Dinie. We gazed out the car’s windows and there it was ..the smile and the bright, sparking eyes in the western night sky. Instantly a thought crossed my mind that Allah had sent a cheerful SMS, a Smiley to us mankind, like a year-end holiday greeting or something. It sure cheered me up. It couldn’t have happened at a better time than last night when my entire family is grieving the loss of a family member over the weekend. My niece’s hubby, Abdul Rahim, succumbed to renal failure on Saturday. All of us had returned to Alor Setar upon being informed of the death to be with Aziah and her four children. The burial was held on Sunday morning. It is my wish that the “Smiley” would help my niece Aziah and her children to bounce back from this setback in their lives and move on with renewed strengt