Cameron Highlands At Risk Of Flash Floods, Landslides, Says Geological Expert

Details Published on Thursday, 10 July 2014 17:11

Cameron HighlandsKUALA LUMPUR - One of the country's main tourist hotspots, Cameron Highlands is poised to face natural disasters in the form of landslides and flash floods, if forest and land encroachment in the area continues to be widespread.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Science and Technology Faculty geological expert, Prof Madya Dr Tajul Anuar Jamaluddin said encroachment could cause landslides and flash floods as Cameron Highlands, located 1,829 metres above sea level, is a hilly area that could easily suffer from soil erosion.

"This area is hilly so the likely occurrence of soil erosion or landslides is very high in the event that illegal tree felling is ongoing.

"This is because there is no more undergrowth to act as a soil binder to strengthen the soil position in the area," he told Bernama when contacted here today.

He was commenting on Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel's statement on the need to curb illegal land clearing and occupation in the highlands, which had increasingly become rampant, resulting in the affected areas facing risks like landslides and flash floods.

According to Dr Tajul, plant roots in a particular place acted to stablise slopes by binding the soil particles.

The evapotranspiration process that is made by plants can reduce the pore pressure during a certain period by draining water in the soil.

Hence the removal of plant growth due to forest encroachment activities will cause the stability of the environment to be disturbed and cause a natural disaster.

Dr Tajul also said land encroachment would cause soil siltation, resulting in rivers becoming shallower and prone to flash floods.

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Cameron Highlands At Risk Of Flash Floods, Landslides, Says Geological Expert