Action first, finger pointing later, Senator Lau urges after Sibu shophouse collapse

SIBU (Feb 21): Senator Robert Lau has urged swift action to address the collapsed shophouse at Jalan Pahlawan commercial centre here, stressing that political point-scoring should not overshadow the urgency of ensuring public safety.

In a Facebook post, Lau said the priority must be to engage competent professionals to determine whether the affected buildings are safe for occupants to enter and retrieve their belongings.

“Any finger pointing would have to come – if needed at all – after the facts were clear.

“First and foremost is to engage competent professionals to ascertain whether the buildings are safe for occupants to enter and salvage their belongings,” he said, outlining several urgent steps following the collapse of the three-storey shophouse.

He emphasised that no debris removal should be carried out at this stage, as crucial evidence on site is essential in determining the cause of the collapse.

“The right professional must be quickly engaged to carry out this task. There is of course the issue of cost involved. Funds have to be provided for,” he added.

Lau said the cause of the collapse must be ascertained and lessons drawn to prevent similar incidents in the future.

He noted that the collapse could have been caused by external factors, such as underground soil movement, or internal factors, including poor workmanship or inadequate engineering design.

He added that the collapse, which occurred a week ago, caused structural damage to adjoining shophouses, with ground movement observed in the days following, as neighbouring units sank several feet.

The senator highlighted that the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) implemented the Ground Settlement Guideline (GSG) in 2010, effective Jan 1, 2011, requiring all engineering drawings for commercial developments to account for ground settlement.

“This guideline states that the submitting engineer must ensure that there will not be any settlement (within a certain margin) of the infrastructure within the commercial development,” Lau said, noting that the measure led many developers to construct roads and drains on suspended platforms when building on peat soil. The guideline was later extended to residential developments.

However, he pointed out that the collapsed shophouse and its neighbouring units were constructed based on engineering drawings approved before the guideline came into effect.

Lau also observed that other shophouses and residential buildings in Sibu, particularly those built between the 1970s and 2000s, have experienced structural failures, especially where piling was inadequate.

He said that past settlements generally occurred gradually, unlike the sudden collapse last week.

“There are no simple or cheap solutions to deal with buildings that were built on soft ground before the GSG was imposed.

“It will need effort and funds to minimize or remedy any structural issues that may manifest in the future,” he said.