CAMERON HIGHLANDS: Perbuatan membuang pelbagai jenis sampah ke dalam parit dan sungai menjadi punca utama kejadian banjir kilat dan tanah runtuh yang berlaku di daerah ini, kata Ahli Parlimen Cameron Highlands, Datuk Ramli Mohd Noor.

Beliau berkata, terdapat segelintir masyarakat tidak bertanggungjawab membuang sampah hingga menyebabkan parit tersumbat dan melimpah setiap kali musim tengkujuh berlaku setiap tahun.

Katanya, hanya kesedaran daripada masyarakat saja dapat membendung kejadian banjir kilat dan tanah runtuh yang hampir setiap tahun di daerah ini dengan kejadian terbaru berlaku pada 26 Januari lalu yang menyebabkan lima pekerja kebun sayur maut tertimbus tanah runtuh di Kampung Raja, Blue Valley, di sini.

"Setiap kali hujan lebat berterusan dalam masa beberapa jam saja, banjir kilat akan berlaku dan yang menjadi mangsa ialah penduduk yang tinggal di kawasan berhampiran parit.

"Ini kerana air tidak dapat mengalir sempurna akibat banyak sampah yang akhirnya melimpah hingga berlaku banjir. Bagi memastikan kejadian itu tidak terus berlaku, masyarakat perlu sedar tanggungjawab menjaga kebersihan, selain penguat kuasa perlu dilakukan secara berterusan bagi membendung kegiatan itu," katanya pada Majlis Penyerahan Kunci Kuarters Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Sungai Ruil kepada Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (JAKOA), di sini.

Hadir sama, Pengurus Besar TNB Pahang, Datuk Baderul Sham Saad; Ketua Pengarah JAKOA, Datuk Sapiah Mohd Nor dan Pengarah JAKOA Pahang, Johari Alwi.

Seramai 17 keluarga membabitkan 88 isi rumah yang terbabit dengan kejadian tanah runtuh pada Februari tahun lalu, ditempatkan sementara di kuarters TNB selama dua tahun.

Mereka hanya dibenarkan pulang ke rumah masing-masing selepas kerja pembaikan cerun itu siap yang dijangka mengambil masa dua tahun, membabitkan peruntukan RM3.5 juta.

Sementara itu, Ramli berkata, pihaknya berharap kerja pengukuhan dan penstabilan penghalang hakisan dapat dipendekkan kepada setahun setengah, bagi memberi peluang 17 mangsa dapat kembali segera ke rumah masing-masing.

Katanya, sebelum berpindah ke kuarters TNB, mangsa terpaksa berlindung di pusat pemindahan sementara (PPS) Sungai Ruil lebih tiga bulan.

"Saya mengingatkan kepada kontraktor yang diberi tanggungjawab menjalankan projek penghadang hakisan di Sungai Ruil ini supaya tidak membuat hal hingga menyebabkan ia tertangguh lagi.

"Saya lihat sebelum ini banyak projek kemudahan untuk rakyat tertangguh selain bertukar beberapa kontraktor, yang menyebabkan imej kerajaan tercalar disebabkan kejadian berkenaan. Saya berharap pihak Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) sentiasa memantau perjalanan projek berkenaan," katanya.

Baderul Sham pula berkata, TNB bersetuju menawarkan sewa RM500 sebulan seunit dan mengecualikan bayaran deposit sewaan selama tiga bulan seperti terkandung dalam syarat perjanjian penyewaan sebelum ini.

"Saya berharap kuarters empat tingkat dengan kemudahan surau memberi keselesaan kepada 17 keluarga membabitkan 88 isi rumah Orang Asli ini," katanya.

Alor Setar: Pokok Sena, Sik dan Baling mengalami cuaca panas tahap satu (berjaga-jaga) sejak kelmarin, dengan rekod menunjukkan, suhu maksimum harian di daerah terbabit antara 35 hingga 37 darjah Celcius.

Pengarah Pejabat Meteorologi Kedah Muhammad Khalil Abd Aziz berkata, suhu maksimum berkenaan dijangka berlarutan sekurang-kurangnya sehingga hari ini.

“Cuaca panas ini dijangka berterusan hingga hujung Mac atau awal April apabila fasa peralihan monsun berlaku.

“Elakkan terdedah kepada cuaca panas ketika ini dan jika tiada urusan di luar, duduk saja di rumah,”

“Cuaca panas ini dijangka berterusan hingga hujung Mac atau awal April apabila fasa peralihan monsun berlaku. Elakkan terdedah kepada cuaca panas ketika ini dan jika tiada urusan di luar, duduk saja di rumah”

katanya dihubungi, semalam.

“Elakkan juga daripada melakukan pembakaran terbuka kerana ia akan menjadikan keadaan lebih teruk,” katanya lagi.

PETALING JAYA: The days of floods are coming to an end; it is now time to prepare for fires, especially peat fires.

With peatlands covering 2,560,341ha of the country, they could be a huge fire hazard.

The Environment Department is already getting ready for the hot and dry weather expected next month.

The El Nino phenomenon is expected to continue until the middle of 2024, along with the positive Indian Ocean Dipole until the first quarter of 2024, leading to hot weather.

The department’s director-general Datuk Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar reminded Malaysians that open burning can spread and cause extensive fires during the dry season.

“There can be a heatwave in March and even haze,” he said in an interview with The Star.

Peatlands and waste disposal sites are the most fire-prone areas in the country, he said, adding that of the over 5,000 open burning cases received by the department last year, eight were largescale fires involving peatlands and landfills.

“Up to Dec 12 last year, 5,121 complaints of open burning cases were received, with 81% of them involving the burning of rubbish.

“Eight cases were large-scale open burning. Four cases involved peatland fires while four were landfill fires,” he said.

The biggest peat fire recorded last year was in Kampung Beoh, Mukim Beris Lalang, Bachok, Kelantan, which saw 35ha of land, the size of 28 football fields, razed from March 27 to May 8.

A bushfire in Mukim Bebar, Pekan, Pahang, from April 22 to July 20, involved a bigger area: 263ha.

Pekan was again hit by a largescale peatland fire near Kampung Baru Cenderawasih, from May 15 to 23, this time covering 12ha.

Climate experts warned that open burning during the coming hot and dry weather will pose serious risks to the environment and public health.

Meteorological expert Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah said that during the tail end of the northeast monsoon, the north of the peninsula and southern Thailand would have clear skies and a drier climate.

He said the lack of clouds would result in higher temperatures in the afternoon and cooler nights.

Maximum daytime temperature can hit near 40°C, with night time temperatures dropping to around 24°C, he said.

“El Nino conditions are still prevalent, so most regional forecasts are for drier-than-normal.

“During this dry season, traditional open burning in the country’s rice production areas such as Kedah and Perlis is expected,” he said.

He added that similar activities may occur in other padi growing areas like Sekinchan and Perak.

As for oil palm plantation on peat soil, the agroindustry does not practise open burning and so, the burning of peatland may come from market gardening activities, said Prof Emeritus Azizan, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences.

“We cannot blame Indonesia, as any smoke will not be blown our way. The main transboundary source will be from the burning in Vietnam and Cambodia.

“This is from the corn agroindustry in those countries, which usually burn their fields during this period,” he said.

As such, he said the Asean Transboundary Agreement needs to be strengthened to tackle open burning in the region.

Environmental and wildlife expert Prof Dr Ahmad Ismail of Universiti Putra Malaysia said authorities should identify hotspots for forest fires and peatland burning, educate the public and agencies on such occurrences, and utilise technology “to quickly and effectively stop the fires, especially those close to protected forest and human residential areas”.

“Peatland forests are rich with wildlife, including aquatic species ... Forest fires or peatland burning will threaten such wildlife populations besides releasing carbon into the atmosphere.”

JOHOR BARU: Firefighter Mohd Khairul Sufian Dahari and his team were once battling against a forest fire for seven days. They had not even finished dousing the fire when they were called away to rescue flood victims.

After saving the victims, they found themselves stranded, in need of rescue; the road leading back to their base was flooded.

Tackling both fires and floods was nothing new for the members of Sebana Cove Fire and Rescue Department station in Pengerang, Johor.

The station is surrounded by more than 1,000ha of peatland – including the oil palm plantation – which, as the weather gets hotter, are susceptible to catching fire. Once it burns, the flames can simmer for months.

Meanwhile, nearby Kota Tinggi is known to be a flood-prone area.

Assistant Fire Superintendent Mohd Khairul, the Sebana station chief, said they had been fighting for a week to put out fires at the Sebana Cove-punggai bypass on March 4 last year.

“But heavy rain fell in Kota Tinggi that evening. We were asked to send our boat to help with the rescue work.

”We were supposed to return to our base at 8am the next day but the road back was cut off by floods, so we only managed to return on March 6,” he recalled.

In October, the team faced one of the most challenging forest fires, stamping out the blaze at a 32ha site after nine days.

“We were lucky as it was raining heavily during the last day of the incident, which contributed to the success,” explained Mohd Khairul.

Twin natural disasters – fire and floods in the same place and at the same time – are no strange occurrences.

In 2023, the world’s hottest year, different places on the planet had to deal with fires and floods simultaneously due to climate change, which was exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon.

In Malaysia, as the weather turns from the wetter northeast monsoon to warmer and drier days in the beginning of the year, authorities, who had been helping flood victims, will now be keeping watch on fire-prone areas.

Metmalaysia has already issued a Level One hot weather warning for three areas in Kedah: Pokok Sena, Pendang and Baling.

The Level One or alert level heatwave warning is issued when daily temperatures range between 35ºc and 37ºc for at least three consecutive days.

The weather is turning hotter, likely due to the possibility of El Nino being heightened between November and January.

Peatlands, the most fire-prone areas in the country, are especially vulnerable during this dry season.

Taming fires in such areas, as such, has proved to be a challenging task for firemen.

For Asst Supt Mohd Khairul and his team, making their way through the peatland was no walk in the park.

At times, they had to wade through a swamp, which was waist-deep, just to get to where the fire was.

“We deployed our AW139 helicopter to help conduct water drops.

“We also got help from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s amphibious Bombardier CL415MP aircraft,” he said.

Last year, the station received 51 calls involving forest fires, Asst Supt Mohd Khairul noted.

One of the main reasons for the fires, he said, was the landowners’ irresponsible action of attempting to clear their farm by burning away grass and leaves.

“It was only when the fire was out of their control that they called us for help,” he said.

“We also believe that other causes could be smokers who tossed their cigarette butts outside their vehicles.

“The forest fire in October started from a roadside blaze that was fanned by the strong wind,” Asst Supt Mohd Khairul added.