IPOH, 21 OCT – Police are investigating the sound of explosions and tremors that occurred around Ipoh at 11:06 this morning.
Perak Police Chief, Datuk Azizi Mat Aris said the result of a check with the North Brigade of the General Operations Team, Ulu Kinta, was that no blasting-related training was carried out today, while a check with the Land and Mines Office (PTG) also found that no blasting was carried out at the quarry before 12 noon.
He said the results of the review with the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) found that Malaysia, especially in Ipoh, was not affected by any seismic activity despite the earthquake that occurred in Halmahera, Indonesia at 11:24 this morning.
“The police are investigating this incident,” he said in a statement today.
Therefore, he said the public is asked to remain calm and not make any speculations related to the incident to cause public angst.
Meanwhile, Perak’s Director of Minerals and Geosciences (JMG) Perak, Nizarulikram Abdul Rahim confirmed that the explosions and tremors were not caused by blasting in the quarry.
“At the moment we are not even able to give confirmation but it is not because of the quarry, that is legitimate I dare say,” he said when contacted Named.
He said his party had made a check shortly after the incident and found that there was no quarry blasting today, apart from the condition of issuing JMG blasting activities must be done between 12 noon to 5 pm from Monday to Thursday only.
“So the incident occurred at approximately 11:06 am which means it was not caused by quarry activities. We have also contacted the quarry association in Perak and obtained the same information, meaning that there was no quarry blasting activity at the time,” he said.
Nizarulikram said that today’s incident is the third incident after the first occurred in June 2012 and October 4, 2018, with all of them occurring around 11 am and the cause is still a mystery.
In the meantime, a clerk at a private company, T. Diviyah, 27, said he was doing his usual work in his office before the explosion and tremors.
“The office door shook but only for a moment, making us (together with my colleagues) surprised. There was a loud noise but nothing happened and we continued working as usual,” he said who works at Medan Istana here.
The manager at a private company, V. Jeganathan, 55, said today’s incident had never happened before while working in the Medan Istana area.
“Today’s incident has never happened, this is the first time. I didn’t panic because the sound was only one time, just the office door shaking,” he said.
In addition, the owner of a food shop in Medan Istana, Rosmah Hussin Shah, 51, said she only heard the explosion once.
“There is no feeling of panic or anything, we (together with the employees) do not feel very shaken.
But in 2018 it happened once, but until now I never knew why,” he said. – Named