Orang Asli villagers leave homes for fear of landslides

GUA MUSANG: About 50 residents of the Kampung Sang Wai Orang Asli settlement in the Lojing Highlands here have moved out of their homes as a precaution against possible landslides and mudflows from a hill near their village.
The 30 households left their homes for the community hall at about 3pm yesterday during heavy rain for fear there could be a repeat of the landslide that occurred there at about 4pm on Tuesday that checked the flow of the Sungai Belatop tributary and destroyed scores of banana plants and other crops of the villagers.
They also lodged a report on the same day with the Lojing police station, blaming the landslide and mudflows on the vegetable farming that was carried out on the hill.
A villager, Kamarudin Uda, 43, said the residents became fearful every time it rained heavily.
He expressed the hope that the authorities would take immediate action against the vegetable farming on the hill which they claimed had gone on unchecked.
Another villager, Bahlong Bawai, 52, said he and his family rushed out of their house at 1am last Thursday after a second landslide occurred at the hill following heavy rain.
Kampung Sang Wai headman Nasir Busu said the villagers lived under a great deal of stress and feared for their lives every time it rained heavily.
Besides Kampung Sang Wai, several other Orang Asli settlements in Lojing and Pos Brooke were reportedly under threat of landslides due to the cultivation of vegetables on hills. — Bernama