MIRI – A Sarawakian social activist is demanding answers from Gabungan Parti Sarawak after a string of longhouse fires.
“Rural longhouse folks are living in fear of fire outbreaks as they are happening almost every few weeks nowadays.
“We in the remote interiors are living in longhouse structures that do not have any fire insurance.
“The government has been promising us that they will secure fire insurance to protect us in the event of longhouse fire outbreaks.
“We hear such promises every election, but until today, nothing has been done…the fires keep happening,” Harry Wing told The Vibes yesterday.
Wing said in remote areas in central Sarawak, two fatal fires occurred over the past two months, leaving two dead and some 500 natives homeless.
On October 4, yet another longhouse was destroyed by a fire in the state’s interior areas, leaving one dead and about 200 people homeless.
The fire razed longhouse Rumah Sebom to the ground, killing a woman in her 90s, said the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department.
The longhouse was located in the Ulu Katibas region, in the upper reaches of Song district in central Sarawak.
On September 28, a devastating fire swept through a big longhouse in the remote interior of Julau district, killing a resident and leaving 189 others homeless.
The longhouse – Rumah Michael Maran – was also reduced to ashes and rubble.
Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department said the longhouse had 36 living quarters built adjoining each other.
The longhouse was destroyed completely. A disabled man was found dead inside one of the rooms.
Longhouse fires have become a constant worry among the nearly one million folks living in these settlements throughout rural Sarawak.
There is a fire almost every month in these rural communities.
In August, the Uma Bawang longhouse in the Sg Asap resettlement scheme near the Bakun Dam was also razed to the ground. – The Vibes, October 6, 2023
