Indiscreet dumping, land clearing the culprits

Translated by DOMINIC LOH Sin Chew Daily

PETALING JAYA, Nov 6 (Sin Chew Daily) -- After almost a year, the mudslide occurred in Cameron Highlands again. The two tragic incidents nevertheless have many things in common, and we cannot help to speculate whether what happened were actually man-induced disasters instead of natural disasters.

Senior Meteorological Officer of the National Weather Centre, Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip told Sin Chew Daily today the rainfall at Cameron Highlands yesterday was 80mm lasting for over four hours. However he said the rainfall was considered normal for the monsoon season and should not have caused the mudslide.

He also rebuked talks of natural disaster, saying the mudslide yesterday had something to do with the high water level at Sultan Abu Bakar Dam.

Two days earlier, TNB generation division senior general manager (asset management) Azman Talib warned that a mudslide could occur in Cameron Highlands any time.

Recurrence in one year

Early last October, the most severe mud flood in history took place in Cameron Highlands, and the incident recurred barely a year later. This time, the site of disaster was near Ringlet new village, about 4km from last year's disaster zone.

Last year, the rain fell for seven hours but the rain only lasted for four hours this year.

Azman said two days before the mudslide that the Ringlet Lake adjoining Sultan Abu Bakar Dam was filled with garbage that had piled up to almost two storeys high that could fill at least 100 football stadia!

He said the domestic and agricultural wastes disposed by local residents were ten times more than before, up from 30,000 cubic meters in 1960 to 300,000 cubic meters today, adding that this had made the garbage clearing work much more complicated and costly.

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Indiscreet dumping, land clearing the culprits