malaysiakini and our MAN-MADE TRAGEDIES....

It is a sad fact of life in Malaysia that most of our tragedies are man-made.
While the latest landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa as reported in this malaysiakini article Landslide tragedy: 4 killed, one missing is not as tragic as the Highland Towers of 1993, the loss of any life through human error or greed should be avoided.
The moment such a tragedy occurs, we have the usual cacaphony of leaders calling for the immediate ban of hill-slope development.
I believe that even 15 years ago one could see high-rise apartments perched high on the Bukit Antarabangsa area and I wondered then that it really looked so precariously positioned.
I recently took a stroll around the Peak in HongKong and the view was fabulous. There were only a few houses or mansions about and also lots of maintenance of the hill-slopes - quite major civil works.
In Malaysia when a hill gets developed, it seems most of the original vegetation is removed and as many houses as possible are built.
Even the Drainage Department seems to be trying to avoid being responsible for proper drainage of the area.
According to this report the area is considered safe.
"A check on the department's website on Saturday showed that it had listed Bukit Antarabangsa as facing no risk of landslides from either a single rainstorm event or successive days of moderate rain."
It seems to me that our states need to apply more stringent rules to ensure the safe development of hill slopes.
This might include buffer zones perhaps 10meters wide so that the Drainage Department can do regular checks on faulty pipes, drains etc. Now the system seems to assume that every property owner is responsible enough to maintain his property in a safe condition.
What happens when a hill-top property is abandoned? The most common development is decay and damage to systems and that can jeopardise the properties below. With an appopriate buffer zone various authorities can examine for soil erosion, drains overflow etc.
Once a property is abandoned for more than say 10 years the state should reclaim the land and restore it back to reserve land.
Property owners who have houses built on hill-slopes should pay extra property taxes so that authorities will conduct an official inspection of the slope and certify it safe for occupation.
That way we will be able to hold local authorities liable for such tragic events that can be prevented.