Segamat Earthquake: 15 Buildings Suffer Minor Damages, Repairs Estimated At Half A Million - Ahmad Maslan

SEGAMAT, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Fifteen government buildings have been identified as having suffered minor damage with an estimated repair cost of RM550,500, following the weak earthquake that hit the district from August 24 to 30.

Deputy Minister of Works Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Maslan said the report was the result of an inspection by the Segamat Public Works Department (JKR) as of Sept 3 on buildings involving the Segamat Hospital, Bandar Putra Health Clinic, Segamat Community College, District Kadi Office, schools and government quarters.

"Most of them are existing cracks that have experienced an increase in the number of cracks following the earthquake tremors while the damage has a small impact and does not affect the integrity of the buildings’ structure.

"These buildings are still safe to use and do not pose a safety risk to users and building users have also been reminded to always monitor the surrounding conditions and report to the Public Works Department if there are any new findings," he said.

He said this in a press conference after listening to a briefing on the disaster and visiting government buildings that suffered damage following the earthquake that struck the district recently.

Ahmad said the repair work would be carried out through allocations from the respective ministries involved, with the Public Works Department providing technical support to ensure the process runs smoothly.

“The JKR Disaster Operations Room has also been activated immediately to monitor the situation 24 hours a day since the first earthquake was reported on August 24.

“Segamat JKR is currently detailing the reports and repair work proposals, in addition to continuing to closely monitor road and bridge assets,” he said.

Apart from buildings, inspections found that no damage was reported to roads and bridges from monitoring 325 kilometres of federal roads, 242.11 kilometres of state roads, and 71 bridges and flyovers within the earthquake radius.

Ahmad said seismic factors had been taken into account in the design of government buildings and bridges since the enforcement of the MS EN 1998 National Annex in Sept 2017.

“New buildings and bridges under the 12th Malaysia Plan were built using high-quality materials and designed according to the seismicity level of their respective locations,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the Segamat District Office also received 62 reports of minor damage to private homes and two suraus following the weak tremors, but the loss estimate had not yet been finalised.

-- BERNAMA