THERE is no concrete evidence to show that human activities contributed to the deadly Batang Kali landslide last December, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

In a statement, Zahid, who also National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) chairman, said a forensic report on the landslide revealed that rainfall was the main factor that caused the incident.

“The report found that the landslide was due to a combination of heavy cumulative rainfall for five days before the incident as well as in the preceding month,” he said.

“The heavy rain caused the slope to collapse, resulting in the campsites, including Hill View, Farm View and River Side, to be covered in soil debris, leading to property damage and loss of lives.

“The investigation found no strong evidence of anthropogenic activity being a factor to this landslide.”

Anthropogenic is generally defined as pollution or environmental change originating from human action.

The landslide that occurred in the early hours of December 16 at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Batang Kali, Hulu Kelang, Selangor, killed 31 people, including 13 children, and injured 61 others.

Zahid said the full report on the tragedy can be accessed by the public on Nadma’s website from 10am tomorrow.

On October 5, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said the state government had agreed to declassify the report on the landslide.

He said the report would also be submitted to Nadma.

“We can now hand it over to Nadma so that they can display it on their website or share it with those who need to know,” he said.

“This will be decided upon by the authorities as the report is very technical.

“Displaying it on the Nadma website will allow everyone to view it and take subsequent action. It is a technical report detailing how the landslide took place.”

Amirudin said the name of the campsite owner was also in the report as well as a number of affected areas such as forests and road reserves.

Victims and next of kin of those who died in the landslide had previously asked the government to declassify the report to enable follow-up action to be taken.

In January, Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the report had already been presented to the cabinet. – October 17, 2023.