THE landslide at the Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali, Selangor on December 16 resulted in the second highest number of disaster fatalities after the Highland Towers condominium collapse in 1993 which claimed 48 lives, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) said.

Thirty-one people were killed in the early morning landslide while 61 others survived.

Among the dead 18 were adults and 13 were children. Twenty bodies were recovered from sector A, one from sector B and 10 from sector C of the campsite.

SMART commander Mohd Khairul Jamil said he was shocked by the number of victims in the landslide when they received an emergency call in the wee hours of that day.

“In previous landslides, only three or four people were involved, and when told that about 100 victims were involved this time I was shocked.

“I then ordered a team of 10 led by SMART Heavy USAR sector head Mohamad Hafiezul Abdul Halim to go to the location of the incident. The Batang Kali landslide saw the second highest number of deaths in a disaster, after Highland Towers,” he said on Bernama TV’s “Rancangan Apa Khabar Malaysia” programme today.

Meanwhile, Hafiezul said his team’s task at the site of the landslide was to provide assistance in terms of expertise and advice to ensure search and rescue (SAR) efforts could be carried out more effectively.

He said among the equipment brought by his team on the first day of the rescue operation were structural movement sensors used in monitoring earth movements, which could endanger the lives of rescuers.

“Our team, among other things, was tasked with giving advice regarding the use of heavy machinery in the area covered with sand and debris of about 20m deep,” he added.

On preparations to tackle floods, Khairul said two SMART teams had been dispatched to help the relevant agencies in Terengganu and Kelantan.

He said among the assets carried by the SMART teams to these two states were boats, lorries and equipment used in the evacuation of flood victims. – Bernama, December 26, 2022.