GURUN – The Kedah menteri besar may have been misled by certain quarters, as there is evidence indicating that land clearing was carried out at Gunung Jerai prior to the mad gush of a waterhead that triggered landslides and flooding in the area yesterday.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenakshi Raman stressed that Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor may not have had all the facts, or may have misinterpreted the term “logging”, saying the act of land clearing involves the felling of trees, effectively clearing tracts of the forest.
“I think Sanusi is just playing around with the words. It may not be logging per se, but there has been land clearing. We were informed by our associates who actually stay there,” she told The Vibes.
There is also satellite imagery shared on social media illustrating the land clearing.
Meenakshi said there is a need to investigate mining or quarrying operations that led to parts of the forest being cleared prior to yesterday’s incident.
Massive gushes of water and sliding earth from the mountain since 5pm were accompanied by flooding in areas near the foothills in Yan. The disaster is believed to have affected 2,000 villagers.
Three men died and three other individuals have been reported missing. Among those unaccounted for is a Jerai Hill Resort employee.
Social media has been inundated with images of chaos and nature’s wrath.
“The videos and pictures we saw are unsettling,” said Meenakshi.
“The mud coming down from the Singkir subdistrict is an indication that there had been massive development in the area. No floodwater would be mud-coloured if there had been no felling of trees and wanton clearing of land.
“If the area is forested, you would not get ‘teh tarik’ (floodwaters). This is a sign from Mother Nature.”
Last night, Sanusi described the incident as an upstream phenomenon, saying it is unrelated to logging.
“They could save only themselves by running to higher ground." pic.twitter.com/SB8J5c2qcH
— TheVibes.com (@thevibesnews) August 19, 2021
Objections to quarrying
In a joint statement with Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) president Mohideen Abdul Kader, Meenakshi said CAP and SAM, together with villagers of Yan’s Bukit Singkir, objected to a quarrying project in the Gunung Jerai forest reserve more than 15 years ago.
“The quarry was allowed by the then state government despite violating the Yan local plan,” said Meenakshi.
“In addition, there should not have been any forest clearing there. But, images from Google (Maps) show that a lot of trees have been cleared, and mining operations have been going on in this environmentally sensitive area.”
Both activists stressed that all destructive activities in the fragile ecosystem must be urgently stopped and investigated, and rehabilitation measures taken to prevent further destruction in the forms of mud flows, landslides and floods.
“It is a grave warning, and the menteri besar must take action and not view this as an act of God. This is indeed (related to) the activities of companies that have been allowed by the state (to operate), contrary to the local plan for Yan.
“Gunung Jerai is an environmentally sensitive area that must be protected. Enormous quantities of silt will be brought down from the slopes, which have been weakened by deforestation and increased destructive activities.
“We cannot be promoting business-as-usual activities, as the massive and tragic floods in Yan have shown. We need to respect nature, recognise its limits, and take the appropriate preventive measures immediately.”
my house near gunung jerai,,just this morning they were using explosive material at gunung jerai,,habis tobekkk kat situ https://t.co/EIqlJlilR7 pic.twitter.com/evODnTZR9M
— ?aswani? (@nomore_05) August 18, 2021
They called on the state to hold an independent public inquiry into the incident, so as to understand the actual causes and weaknesses involved, and to determine the preventive and rehabilitative measures that have to be taken.
They warned that the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows that more frequent and intense rainfalls will occur due to global warming.
“What the state and local governments must do, with the collaboration of the federal government, is to build climate resilience and take all the needed measures, include halting land and forest clearing, particularly, in environmentally sensitive areas and highlands.” – The Vibes, August 19, 2021
Additional reporting by Arulldas Sinnappan
