USM Media and Public Relations Centre Director Mohamad Abdullah said campus officials had relocated about 100 students from the dorm housing female undergraduates to a different one after bits and pieces of the building started falling off.

“We are aware of pictures of the building which have gone viral. This actually happened early last week.

“But we are pleased to say we have detected the faults in the building early on and have moved the students to other dorms.

“We are also closely monitoring other blocks to see if there is similar damage,” he said.

Mohamad added that security staff of USM had been put on 24-hour patrol at all the blocks of the affected dorm to monitor if more damage occurred.

“We are confident that the other dorms are safe. The affected building is one of the oldest in campus. Our campus security is on patrol at all these blocks for added safety.

“As of now, we are confident the other buildings are safe,” he said.

Political news aggregator Penang Kini shared a series of photos uploaded by a USM staff showing the Desasiswa Cahaya Gemilang H34 dorm in shambles.

From the pictures, it appears that the corridors’ retaining wall had collapsed, resulting in rubble strewn all over the ground floor.