Chronology: Highland Tower Collapse...

BIL	DATE	EVENT
1.	1977	Block 1 of Highland Towers, the southernmost tower, was constructed.
2.	1979	Block 2 of Highland Towers, located north-northwest of Block 1, closer in to the hill, and slightly higher than the other two blocks, and was constructed.
3.	1981	Block 3 of Highland Towers, located northwest of Block 1 and to the west of Block 2, was constructed.
4.	1991	A new housing development project, known as Bukit Antarabangsa Development Project, commenced on the hilltop behind the Highland Towers. As a result, the hill was cleared of trees and other land-covering plants, exposing the soil to land erosion that eventually causes landslides to occur.
5.	1992	October: Water began to flow down the hill slopes, due to flooding, caused by the burst pipes at various locations on the hill. The pipes which had originally being used to divert the flow of East Creek, a small stream, had burst, after becoming overly-burdened by the water from the construction site, resulting in excess water being absorbed into the soil.
6.	1993	§  November: Cracks began to form and widen on the road around the Highland Towers. §  December 11: Block 1 of Highland Towers collapsed at 1.35 pm. §  124 members of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and about 30 military personnel and engineers from Batu Cantonment Camp and Wardie burn Camp were deployed for search and rescue. Hundreds of policemen, firemen, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) rescue teams, as well as Red Crescent volunteers had arrived earlier. §  Rescue team spotted somebody waving a stick. A maid of one of the residents at Level 7, Umi Rashidah Khoruman, 22, and her daughter Nur Hamidah Najib (18 months) were found. §  Shizue Nakajima, 50, a Japanese woman was pulled from the debris but pronounced dead at 12 midnight in Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), due to severe internal bleeding. §  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and many other Cabinet Ministers visited the site. §  December 12: Residents of Block B and C of Highland Towers were ordered to vacate their homes, after the 2 blocks were declared unsafe. Search and rescue teams from Singapore, France, and Japan arrived in Malaysia to help. Nuri and Alouette helicopters from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) were also despatched. §  December 13: A French team, with 2 rescue dogs, joined the operation. They used heartbeat detectors to search for survivors and dug a 4.5-meter hole for access. A Cabinet Committee was established, specifically to deal with problems relating to the tragedy. §  December 15: Rescuers found 6 bodies: 4 believed to be Koreans and 2 locals. The rescue teams decided to use machines to break the concrete and steel, as well as to use bulldozers to remove the debris to open up a route. §  December 17: The Cabinet Committee agreed to abandon rescue efforts. §  December 18: Rescue teams found 6 more bodies, including that of one child. §  December 19: Rescue teams found 3 bodies: §  one of a woman, located about 8 meters inside the parking area, was found at 7.00 pm; §  the second body, also a woman, was found near the first body at 8.30 p.m.; and §  the third, a man, was found at 10.15 pm. §  December 21: Police confirmed that 48 bodies were recovered from the Highland Towers debris. §  December 22: The rescue operation ended, with Dr. Nik Hassan Nik Ramlan being appointed Chairman of the Technical Committee Investigating the Highland Towers Tragedy.
7.	1995	Plans were initiated to salvage Block 2 and Block 3 of Highland Towers. Technical studies, however, indicated that the 2 blocks were no longer structurally sound, and had to be demolished. The abandoned Highland Towers' site has since become a haunt for drug addicts.
8.	2010	December 11: In conjunction with the 17th anniversary of the Highland Towers disaster, AETN's History Channel showed an hour-long documentary of the tragedy, with accounts from the victims, their families, and former residents (see videos).