In wake of Hong Kong blaze, Southeast Asia’s fire hazards come under scrutiny
Serious structural defects and inefficient bureaucracy tainted by corruption are common in the region, fire safety experts say
Last year, Mutalib Uthman could only look on helplessly as flames consumed his home, reducing everything he owned to ashes in a wall of thick, black smoke.
The book publisher from Selangor said a faulty fuse box on the lower floor had sparked the blaze inside his home in Bandar Baru Bangi. Despite a neighbour trying to help with a fire extinguisher, the two-storey home near Putrajaya was quickly destroyed.
“The box was inside the store room, which was full of unused items,” he told This Week in Asia. “The fire fell onto some of these unused things, and it spread quickly.”
Fortunately, he and his family escaped unscathed.
