YOURSAY ‘Obviously someone has blundered. This is not a natural disaster, this is a human-made disaster.'

Three dead after Cameron Highlands dam gate opened

Bamboo: Yes, a simple matter of releasing water from a dam was botched and had resulted in deaths. How do we trust the government and its officers in their ability and competency to deal with radioactive waste from the Lynas rare earth plant?

They dare to even talk about having nuclear power plants on our soil? Even the Tokyo Electrical Power Company (Tepco) can't contain the radioactive leaks from the Fukushima plant in Japan.

Rubystar_4037: This is sheer incompetence. Within 20 minutes of the sound of the siren, a huge wave of water was released, then less than two hours later, more water was released. Note that water does not accumulate in the dam overnight from rain, but builds up over a period of many days.

Doesn't the dam management have any contingency plan to warn people residing near the dam on the impending release of water? Water released from a dam always come in a huge deluge and will cause massive destruction.

To argue that the people stayed around the dam is illegal is irresponsible at this stage. But sad to say, nothing will ever come out from the investigation.

The management will get away with any negligence or incompetency even when proven. The matter will drag on for years and meanwhile another 'release' may be impending.

This is Malaysia, governed by incompetent civil servants who know that they will not be responsible for any mistake made.

Anonymous_3da0: The rains had been pouring in the past week. A vulnerable area like this should have been more closely monitored. If the water release had been staggered or an earlier warning given, this would have been avoided.

Mushiro: Probably the right thing to do was to release the water before the danger level, then more time could be given to warn the residents. Obviously someone has blundered. This is not a natural disaster, this is a human-made disaster.

P Dev Anand Pillai: One wonders is this the best that we can muster in terms of responsibility towards a given task? What on earth were they thinking when they decided to open the flood gates?

This is a dam,for God's sake, when it is opened it will obviously flood the areas downstream. Can we now trust them with radioactive materials? As usual, the callous personnel will be absolved of any negligence and a scapegoat will now have to be found.

Wt TNB: Where is the standard operation procedures? Siren alert at midnight and gate opened 20 minutes after the siren?

Sodom Me Sodom You: What a sad, sad day. Let us offer prayers to the souls of the dead and condolences to the families.

It looks like the authorities had blundered and in a bout of desperation made a mistake that had cost a few innocent lives. Will we ever know the truth? In Malaysia, don't hold your breath.

Kunio: Why must the gate be opened at 1am and 2am while everyone was asleep? Is there no drill carried out prior to the release of water? Is there no risk analysis done prior to opening of the gate? Why were some farms flooded?

If all these cannot be answered satisfactorily, then the auditor-general must look into this. It may be another case of stupidity. The victims must be compensated.

Oldman57: So many questions, so few answers. Who is accountable? Who is responsible? As usual, there will be no answers. This is a human tragedy, and not surprising for a country with third-world mentality.

Khris: Cameron Highlands is no longer a jungle where you won't see any soul for hundreds of miles. There could be many people camping out at night, and were sound asleep. I just don't feel by ringing the siren, the authorities could then go ahead and open the flood gates.

Robbed!!: Please look into the possibility of suing the authorities. Advance warning of 24 hours would have saved lives.

Imraz ikhbal: Rest assured that this caring and responsible government of ours shall get to the bottom of things, establish the details on what really happened and hold those responsible fully accountable.

Just as were done for the deaths of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu, Teoh Beng Hock and many others. May their souls rest in peace as do the souls of those perished in this incident.

Guna Otak Sikit: Like everything, the incident happened despite "following procedures". I am not sure what procedures were followed, if the right procedures were used, or if the people following the procedures were trained or understand the procedures.

And, like all the past incidents, has any lesson been learnt? Looking at the Auditor-General's Report year after year, what do you think? The rot continues.

Anonymous #21828131: My sympathies to the families of the victims. This simple exercise could have been carried out safely without any casualties.

This is a clear example of not knowing their jobs. It only happens with an administration that is weak and refuses to listen.

Maybe the personnel were not given proper training. The minister must answer to Parliament and conduct a thorough investigation to find out the root cause of the incident.

Don't forget there are several other areas in the Klang Valley also sitting precariously under similar circumstances.

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