bobjots : redux

the unfinished story of grace
Freelance Jobs

Jaya Supermarket Collapses!

Latest Update (2030 hrs)

  • Petaling Jaya OCPD states that contrary to earlier reports, 9 workers were within the building when it collapsed. 2 have been rescued so far, with 1 dead and 6 still trapped beneath the rubble. Bits and pieces of the building are still falling off what’s left of the extremely unstable structure. Stay away from the area unless absolutely necessary.

Latest Update (2013 hrs)

  • Authorities have requested people to avoid the disaster site at Section 14 PJ unless they’re directly involved in the search and rescue operations. I would encourage compliance to this request as we’d probably do more harm than good if we’re not contributing and put ourselves at unnecessary risk as well.

Latest Update (1954 hrs)

  • All victims are apparently Indonesian nationals. I hope this doesn’t mean that the rescue efforts are now less urgent.
  • Police first received reports that the building collapsed at 4.45 pm.

Latest Update (1920 hrs)

  • The building was apparently in the process of being demolished when it collapsed.
  • According to the Director of the Selangor Fire Department, 1 person is confirmed dead, 1 is safe, 1 injured and currently in hospital, and 5 are still missing.

I was shocked when I received The Nut Graph’s tweet about the collapse of Petaling Jaya’s iconic Jaya Supermarket. The shopping centre was built the year I was born and for many years was one of the main shopping malls in the Klang Valley until the mushrooming of mega sized malls in the 1990s.

If I am not mistaken, the building has been vacated for quite a few months to facilitate either a redevelopment of the property or a massive renovation of the building. Nonetheless, reports indicate that quite a number of people are trapped beneath the rubble. Various conflicting reports are coming in with The Nut Graph tweeting that 7 people are beneath the rubble with 2 sent to the University of Malaya Medical Centre while the Malaysian Insider reports that 4 people may have been killed and up to 50 people trapped beneath the rubble.

The rubble of Jaya Supermarket
The rubble of Jaya Supermarket at Section 14
Photo Credits: 巴結影像

More information is still pending but a friend of mine with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society is currently helping out in the rescue effort.

Post Metadata

Date
May 28th, 2009

Author
Bob K

Category
Life, Malaysiana

Trackback URI
Tiny Url | Share on Twitter


1 Comments


  1. small engineer
    1

    i had gone through most of the news/articles/etc and i even went to that area for a look on what happen since got a friend stay @ menara bakti. i did feel that some of the things written/concern by local council, the people standing there or maybe some other unknown parties are not so accurate

    1. News concern that the collapse might due to overloading by the excavator

    actually this is very unfair to the contractor as this is an accident, no one will want it happen. Some more the collapse just happen few hours ago. No investigation on the structure being carried out yet, so it is not so good to give some comment like this at the earlier stage or before the investigation. Wonder why they will not think about it might due to fault design by the earlier consultant, or might due to workmanship problem by the earlier contractor????????????i doubt this!!!!!!!!!!!

    Lets look into it in Engineering way.

    A Retail / shopping complex’s slab is design to cater for a very high loading (life load/dead load)*. it might be 10 tonne for a slab. Mayb some real engineer can clarify this. so an excavator being put there is EX60 (which is about 6.5 tonne only), sure the slab can take the load. Note: the excavator model is what i get from the menara bakti using my friend’s binocular.

    what i saw there even the slab also being prop up using the scaffolding (where each scaffolding can take about 2 tonne), so why the slab cant take the load?????

    slab load permissible = 10 tonne

    Scaffold load permissible = (2.5t x 4 nos)=10 tonne (what i observe there is the slab is being prop up with more than 4 scaffold, i think there were thousand of scaffold propping. see the calculation above i hope u guys can understand

    * dead load = partition/goods/etc (this is a shopping complex, i think the thing sure a lot like hell)
    * live load = people/or something is moving (1 ppl say 60kg, 30 ppl already 1.8tonne. dont tell me only 3 ppl in the shopping!!!)
    * roof top is a car park. a car about 1 tonne, for a area like 9m x 9m can cater for 6 cars. so about 6 tonne/81m2, sure the slab will design for higher loading, so a excavator is just 6.2 tonne, only 200kg heavier

    2. Professional engineer

    i think most of the project will required a PE for the work. sure the PE will need to ensure everything is OK then only allow the contractor to do the work. otherwise sure the PE will never allow contractor to do the work. Please think about how big is the responsibility of a PE. a signature on a paper then he/she will need to bear the LIFETIME RESPONSIBILITY.

    3. 30 years old building

    guys, this is a 30 years old building. it even elder than me. no1 can sure what happen or what can happen to this building within this 30 years. so what can we call it????

    the current contractor sure always be the 1st one being blamed, why? they just do their job only for something which is really old.

    frankly speaking. i heard a lot of people talking about like: how the structure collapse, what, etc
    for me, all these people are like a ENGINEER WANNABE….

    i would say let the professional do their job and pray for the peoples trap inside. i hope they are safe

    May 29th, 2009 at 5:13 am

Leave a Reply

←
→