SIBU: Sixteen people from four families had the shock of their lives when their single-storey wooden house at Kampung Jeriah suddenly collapsed at 6.50pm on Friday.
At the time of the incident, all of them were home.
House owner Mohamad Mahdi, 64, said,
“Before the incident, some of my children and I heard the sounds of house poles shifting around noon but we ignored it as we had heard them before.
“At 6.50pm, I started to get nervous when the first tremor broke out and I heard a loud cracking noise in the kitchen. Without any delay, all of us ran out,” he recalled.
However, two minutes later, the house began to shake as if there was an earthquake. The whole house then collapsed, starting from the kitchen to the front portion.
Mahdi who was still shaken by the incident, was, however, grateful all his family members were safe.
Acting chief of the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (JBPM) Sibu Zone, Wan Kamarudin Wan Ahmad, when contacted, said he received a call on the incident at 8.46pm on Friday.
“When we arrived at the scene of the incident, we discovered that the house had been permanently destroyed.”
He said all occupants had run out of the house two minutes before it collapsed.
“Last night, we advised the occupants not to look for their belongings to avoid any unwanted incidents,” he added.
