Malaysia Exterior wall Wall collapse exterior walls Wall Damage Building damage Timber construction

Storm rips off the wall of a 12th floor apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

*Temporary wall being installed (image from www.thestar.com.my)*

The wall of a 12^th floor apartment in Kuala Lumpur was ripped off during a thunderstorm on Friday, May 19.

Furthermore, the event took place in the Loke Yew building, which consists of public housing flats and involved a family apartment.

Loke Yew was constructed in 1968 and has walls made of timber, which have proved to be vulnerable to wind loads after decades of erosion.

The Kuala Lumpur City Hall took remediation measures by taping the area where debris had fallen off access, as well as installing a temporary canvas wall in the affected flat. The temporary wall was later replaced by a permanent structure, made of bricks and cement, on May 20.

Finally, a similar incident also took place in the building in October of 2014, when strong winds ripped off walls on the 10^th, 13^th, and 18^th floors and concerns have arisen about the safety of the structure.