SIBU, Feb 15: 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 yesterday.
All the occupants were at home at the time of the incident.
House owner Mohamad Mahdi, 64, said he first heard a cracking sound at around noon but ignored it, as he thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Before the incident, some of my children and I heard the sound of house poles shifting but we ignored them as it had often been like this 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, we all ran out,” he recalled.
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, said Mahdi who was still shaken by the incident.
However, he was grateful that all the family members were safe.
Sibu Fire and Rescue acting chief Wan Kamaruddin Wan Ahmad, when contacted, said he received a call on the incident at 8.46pm.
“When we arrived at the scene of the incident, we only made a size-up after discovering that the house was permanently destroyed. All the occupants ran out of the house two minutes before it collapsed,” he said.
Wan Kamaruddin added that the incident did not involve any injuries nor was any of the victims trapped under the pile of rubble.
“We advised the occupants not to look for their belongings so as to avoid any unwanted incidents,” he said. — DayakDaily
