Religious school mishap: Wall collapses in JB after rain

JOHOR BARU: A 40m-long retaining wall belonging to a religious school collapsed after heavy rain in Kampung Nong Chik near here.

 

Village head Abdul Rahim Marzikin said the concrete wall collapsed on Sunday (April 1) at 6.40pm, causing some damage to their community hall, located behind the school.

 

The school had been constructing the 3m-high wall over the past few weeks, he added. He said he was frustrated by the lack of communication by school authorities on the collapse.

 

“What makes me angry is that they (the school managers) did not even bother to notify us of the mishap, or approach us on how they can do the repairs for our hall,” he said when met at the site.

 

Abdul Rahim estimates that the damage caused by the collapsed wall was about RM10,000 and was concerned if the remaining half of the wall would also collapse as well.

 

“The yet-to-be completed wall is only several weeks old and it has collapsed. I believe if the wall was constructed properly, it would not have collapsed so easily,” he said.

 

Meanwhile Kg Turom secretary and committee member Mohd Ariffin Ibrahim said it was quite fortunate the two-year-old community hall did not suffer any structural damage from the collapsed wall.

 

“The hall was closed pending some minor renovation, thus there was no one inside when the wall collapsed. 

 

"We are fearful that if it rains heavily in the future, the rest of the wall or even the soil could come crashing down on our hall meant for the local community here,” he said.

 

He added that they will insist that the school foot the bill for the damage caused, or else they will lodge a complaint with the district land office.

 

Authorities from the religious school could not be reached for a comment at press time.

 

There have been several incidents in the past few months involving religious schools.

 

In Oct 2017, the hostel of a tahfiz school in Kampung Bukit Lanchung, Shah Alam, was destroyed in a blaze.

 

In Sept 2017, 23 people died after a fire broke out at a religious school in Kampung Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur.-thestar