MIRI – The suffering of rural folk at flood-hit localities in rural Sarawak is piling up.
Many are now without daily food sources as their crops have been destroyed after their farms were submerged in floodwaters over the past three weeks.
Dennis Along, the PKR information chief for Baram district, said that affected villagers in many interior longhouses do not have rice and vegetables for their daily consumption anymore.
“Their farms are totally covered by floodwaters due to the daily downpour,” he said.
“Their padi, vegetables and fruit trees are all destroyed by floodwaters,” he added. “They cannot hunt or fish due to the dangerous conditions and bad weather.”
“They are totally dependent on food aid to survive,” he told reporters here today.
Along and PKR workers from Miri and Baram branches have successfully delivered urgent consignments of food as emergency aid to the Long Terawan settlement in the interior of Mulu National Park.
“We managed to deliver the cargo of food aid to Long Terawan located in the deep interior,” he said, stressing that the delivery was very difficult.
“It took us three days to transport the food cargo,” he said.
“We started for Marudi from Miri in four-wheel drive vehicles.
“From there we had to use big boats to reach Long Terawan as the gravel-road conditions had deteriorated into mud streams due to the heavy rain,” he said.
Along called on the state authorities to check on the plight of villagers living in every flood-hit longhouse and kampung.
The food shortage will worsen if the rain and floods continue, he said. – The Vibes, February 7, 2021
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