SUGUD FLOOD VICTIMS WILL TAKE YEARS TO RECOVER THEIR LOSES

4th October 2021

 

1.  Prof Tongkul centre and Cikgu Tay right inspecting the pile foundations

 

 

 

Example of a car bashed by the flood

 

Miracle car being rescued with helf of excavator

 

Two Kg Tampasak mothers show the flood level at the Dewan Raya which was 5 ft 8 inches

 

 

PENAMPANG.  Retired Geology Professor Felix Tongkul estimates that about 80% of the original forest of Sugud catchment hills are already gone due human activities. Hence the water retention properties of a dense forest sometimes called the "sponge effect" is nearly gone hence nearly all the rain water simply pours down from the hills as surface run-off causing flash floods and higher flood levels at the Sugud villages on 15 September.

Prof Tongkul who is an ardent environmentalist said planting more trees can reduce the flood only if the correct locations are planted with the most suitable type of trees.

He was joining a philanthropic NGO Osimal inspecting fast-built houses for 4 victims using the IBS system which can be completed in a week. It is prefabricated in factories and quickly assembled on site with a uniques foundation using a bored pile made of rust resistant aluminium alloy and screwed deep into the ground. The estimated cost per unit is the same as the government assisted PPRT houses. (houses for the extreme poor)

Cikgu Tay who was instrumental in getting student hostel build at the remote villages of Terian, Buayan and Longkogungan and now transferred to Penampang again volunteered to be on ground in search for the recipients which included a disabled person, a driver, a self employed with one month baby and 3 other children at Kg Tinduuzon and another proposed at Kg Kodou.  All the victims have their houses totally destroyed by the worst flood known in the area.

The sense of devastation can still be felt after half a month with no residents willing to speak on video camera or even named in interviews, but social media practitioners say the media is full of strong words. Most agree it will take a long time for the residents to recover,  with mud and debris still piled more than a metre high,  the Dewan Raya at Tampasak still have doors blocked with mud up to a foot deep.

Several cars are reported as total loss with insurance agents confirming most are not covered for natural disasters.  However only one viralled miracle car was recovered after sitting on top of timber debris for 14 days with only dents on front and back with not a drop of mud inside. The rest of the vehicles are not even worth scrap metals.

An engineer expressed the six (6) box culverts across the only Sugud River to carry the Pan Borneo road instead of a bridge as per Drainage and Irrigation guidelines constributed to the slow discharge of the flood. The saw tooth upstream side of the culverts are easily blocked by debris from the hills. He said the shear strength of the soils of the hills are weakened by the continuous rain and more landslides should be expected.

 

(articles previously rejected by Daily Express)