Effects from the flood can be seen on the river banks where water came flowing down so fast that it shocked the villagers.
Report by Koong Hui Yein & Nikke Uda
6 January 2015
With last-minute arrangement and a team of dedicated volunteers, two truck loads of goods were managed to be sent to Kampung Chedau – the agreed distribution point for the four villages, i.e. Kampung Chedau, Kampung Pooh, Kampung Kerbok and Pos Ber. Kampung Chedau was located within Pos Hendrop and at about 90km away from Gua Musang. It was the only accessible village by road as others’ were blocked by landslides or broken bridges. All villages were of the Temiar subethinic group.
83 families in total would be receiving these supplies, with about six thousand ringgit worth of goods had been purchased from Tesco Shah Alam and collected from Balakong Flood Relief Donation Centre.
Nikke was the village coordinator. She had been working hard to manage the supplies and communicating with us.
Nikke and Suraya, both from Kampung Chedau, were working really hard to send us information and coordinate the collection and distribution of supplies. Both girls were telling stories on how they – ten teenagers – made their way to Pos Ber on 2 December 2015 by trekking 3 hours on a challenging terrain covered with mud, sharp bamboo trees and fallen tree trunks. There was no other way to get to Pos Ber besides by foot. They trekked in the dark while they were on their way back from Ber to Chedau – all for the sake of collecting information and communicating with the community living in Pos Ber. The same distance and hours of travelling were taken when 100 over members from Pos Ber came to Kampung Chedau on the day the supplies came. With no roads and no machineries or vehicles, labour was vital to transport these supplies back to their villages.
There was no phone reception in Kampung Chedau. The only way for Nikke and Suraya to contact us was by trekking an hour to a hill to get phone reception.
No help had been sent to these villages so far. The flash flood happened on the 29 December 2014 when waves of water came flowing down and shocked everyone. It was fortunate that it happened in the day at 9am when villagers were managed to observe the mass of water and escaped before it gushed through the river banks and flushed away their plantations and some of the hamlets. No reports of lives lost due to flood to date.
Many had lamented that it was probably the worst flood in their lifetime. The flood had destroyed their fields and taken along their sources of food. Tapioca was only what they could harvest from their backyards. They couldn’t enter the forest to hunt as many roads were hit by landslides and bad weather would mean higher risk of falling trees or debris.
We sincerely thank the volunteers who chipped in last minute and to those who had contributed in many ways. But as we all know, more needs to be done as this was only the first phase of support for the flood victims and many Orang Asli were still remained uncontactable.
6 January 2014
Report by Koong Hui Yein. Photos by Koong Hui Yein
There were many landslides along the way, posing risks to passer-by and vehicles.
Everyone helped to carry the supplies, including children.
A team of young volunteers trekked from Kampung Chendau to Pos Ber by foot to meet the community and discuss about the coordination of supplies.
The log bridge that was used to connect Kampung Chendau and other villages was flushed away by the flood, cutting away access to many more villages in the interior.