SYNOPSIS

Indiscriminate development on hill slopes and the construction of highways in hilly terrain has increased the occurrence of landslides in Malaysia.  Landslides, which not only claim lives and damage properties, but also sever major transportation network, have caused major economic losses to the nation especially if no proper studies on slope stability and landslide risk are carried out prior to the development or construction.  It is anticipated that with the on-going development, coupled with global warming, occurrence of landslides and its consequences will escalate if geotechnical input is not taken seriously during planning and implementation stage.
Slope assessment and slope management are important aspects of slope engineering. Slope assessment is used to assess the condition of slopes either on a large scale or individually. Slope assessment is also carried out to understand the mechanisms that trigger the event that can be used to predict the potential occurrence of landslide.  While slope management is the efficient use of available funds for slope rehabilitation work based on the priority rankings of slopes using the hazard and risk technique. In general, landslide hazards in Malaysia are only assessed on a case-to-case basis. Hazard assessments are only usually carried out well after signs of distress are observed or after a landslide incident. There is limited landslide hazard assessment carried out in Malaysia and the efforts are mainly by the Government sector and highway concessionaires.

This presentation highlights the methodology of landslide risk and hazard assessment and the production of risk and hazard maps for both linear based infra structures and area based hill side development area.


BIODATA

After graduation from the University of Malaya in Civil Engineering in 1994, Ir. Dr. Low Tian Huat joined University of Malaya for various studies under the supervision of Prof. Dr Faisal Hj Ali on unsaturated soil and Tropical residual soil where he worked as a research engineer until 1999. He pursued his studies at the same university, and was awarded the Master in Engineering Science in 2001 and PhD Degree in 2011. He continued his career as a consulting engineer and is currently the Geotechnical Manager for Mohd Asbi & Associates. With his practical experiences, he has been invited by University Of Malaya as a part time lecturer in Civil Engineering Department since 2003.  During his works in Mohd Asbi & Associates, he has been involved in various landslide investigation and assessment works. He has published more than 40 papers in journals and proceedings for local and international conferences.
In the course of his career, some of his notable works on landslide are:
2001 – As the Senior Geotechnical Engineer for Slope Stability Study Along Tamparuli Sandakan Road.
2006- As the lead engineer for the Area Based Landslide Risk and Hazard Assessment study of Hulu Klang Ampang. 2006- As the lead engineer to undertake Landslide Risk and Hazard Assessment for the Access Road of Genting Highland Resort World.
2008- Appointed by Public Works Department (JKR) as investigator under Ir Dr Mohd Asbi Othman for Taman Bukit Mewah, Bukit Antarabangsa Landslide.
2010 – Appointed as the lead engineer by Kumpulan IKRAM Sdn Bhd to produce risk and hazard map for Penang Island and Bukit Kanada, Miri, Sarawak.