Two additional “weak motion” stations will be built in Johor, to detect early tremors of earthquakes, involving an allocation of three million ringgit from the Federal Government.
The Menteri Besar of Johor, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, said that six existing seismological stations in the state will also be upgraded.
The Johor Minerals and Geoscience Department (JMG), meanwhile, will conduct investigations of the land and existing buildings in earthquake areas to determine the level of risk more accurately.
In addition, all new developments must take into account the Malaysian National Annex to Eurocode Eight standards to ensure that building structures are earthquake resistant.
“Seismic risk-mapping will also be continuously updated through fault movement observations with the integration of modern technology, including artificial intelligence (AI),” he said.
Onn Hafiz added that, “The State Government is aware that the heaviest burden will still be borne by the families whose homes were affected. For this reason, the State Government, with the support of the Federal Government through NADMA, has agreed to channel assistance to the 62 Heads of Households involved and have filed police reports, with a maximum rate of RM3,000 per family.”
He said technical assessments by the Public Works Department and local authorities confirmed that all government buildings were still safe to use.
He said that, important facilities such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Petronas, Ranhil SAJ and the Johor Water Regulatory Authority (Bakaj) were also inspected, and all basic systems and facilities were in good condition and functioning as usual.
Onn said this during the tabling of the Second Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 15th Johor State Assembly in Iskandar Puteri.
Several series of weak earthquakes occurred in Segamat and Batu Pahat starting on 24th August 2025, with a magnitude of 4.1, followed by seven aftershocks between 27th August 3rd September 2025 with magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.4.
In the short term, he said the state government is focusing efforts on activating a 24-hour disaster operations room with security and technical agencies, raising awareness among the public, developing Earthquake Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and implementing the Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) Programme, which will be expanded to schools and communities by the end of October.
