LETTER: The astounding natural beauty of limestone hills can clearly be seen at one of Malaysia's most popular tourist attractions — Batu Caves. The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Its unique features are formed by the natural dissolution of carbonate by water, mainly rainwater.
As one travels to the north, passing through the state of Perak, the sight of limestone hills is quite in abundance. Even from the highway, one would be able to see the scenic greenness atop limestone hills and caverns, some of which were formed tens of thousands of years ago.
However, beauty does not always come without peril. Following a limestone hill collapse in November, a geomorphologist informed the media that "even rainfall can lead to natural dissolution of rocks, thus weakening the structure of limestone walls".
Obviously, as has been highlighted in the past by experts, these beautiful, scenic hills that may be home to an array of flora and fauna may also pose a danger to humans due to the presence of extensive joints and fractures within the limestone hills' structures.
Limestone hills are synonymous with Perak, specifically Ipoh. The limestone hills in Kinta Valley include Gunung Rapat, Gunung Datok, Gunung Lang, Gunung Paniang, Gua Kandu, Gunung Tambun, Gunung Panjang, Gunung Kanthan and Gua Tempurung.
The significance of these hills is that they are either close to roads, residential areas (and the possible development), tourist attractions, as well as structures that have been built, legally or illegally, in caves or at the foot of these hills, which often house occupants.
The tragic incident in November was the landslide at the beautiful Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat that killed two guests. The Perak Mineral and Geoscience Department was quoted as saying, "heavy rains had weakened the residual soil on top of the limestone walls", causing the structure to collapse on the villa where the victims stayed.
This incident really shook me because I planned to take a break there at the time of the tragedy after being cooped up during the previous Movement Control Order. The tragedy and subsequent reports on the incident in various media outlets prompted me to do some research on tragedies involving limestone hills.
I was surprised to discover experts saying "limestone hills in the tropics often form steep-sided walls due to natural collapse. This process can be accelerated when there are solutions (rainwater) in the foothills. When rainwater flows into rock intercepts and natural dissolution occurs, the cracks between rocks widen, eventually triggering rock collapses".
It was also reported that there have been close to 20 cases of natural limestone rockfalls around Ipoh alone, including the Banjaran Hotsprings incident. The worst incident was in 1973 in Gunung Cheroh, which killed 42 people. In 2009, the Perak Caves incident also caused deaths, injuries and damage to property.
Sadly, the Banjaran Hotsprings tragedy was only talked about in the week that it happened and the story died off. Like any other tragedy, the deaths of the two holiday-makers should not be allowed to fade away — their lives should count for something.
Knowing that limestone hills can be a ticking time bomb, the Banjaran Hotsprings incident should have pushed the Perak authorities to take necessary action. Merely ordering the relevant departments to monitor risky limestone hills, especially those located near residential areas, may not be enough.
What about temples, houses and other structures in caverns or at foothills of limestone hills? Do we have to wait for more loss of lives before decisive actions are taken?
ADAM MALEK
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times