Usung checking on the water level at his longhouse this morning.
MIRI (Oct 4): Villagers of Long Bemang, Baram, are calling on the government to allocate funds for them to carry out repair works on their longhouse besides cash aid for families after they were hit today by their sixth flood this year.
Headman Usung Ding said they had not received any cash assistance from the government thus far, except for food baskets.
“This is the sixth time this year we have been experiencing flooding with the most serious one happening in July.
“A lot of our belongings including electrical appliances, furniture and doors were damaged because of the flood. While we appreciate the government’s food basket, we also need cash assistance to ease our burdens,” he told The Borneo Post.
To a question, Usung said a food basket contained a 5kg bag of rice, instant noodles, a kilogramme of flour, a kilogramme of cooking oil, a packet of biscuits and four canned food.
The village has 268-doors with a population of about 3,500 but only 600 live permanently in the village.
Usung also called on the state and federal governments to find a long term solution to their long standing issue.
He recalled that the worst flood in the village’s history was in 2017 when they experienced flood 15 times in that year alone.
“When Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas (deputy Chief Minister) visited us in 2017, I highlighted the issue to him. I suggested that the school, SK Long Bemang, and the Long Bemang Clinic be relocated to higher ground.
“He told me that the longhouse too needs to be relocated. In fact, we had also carried out a perimeter survey involving 20 hectares just behind the current longhouse in case there is an allocation for the relocation of the longhouse, clinic, and the school” he said.
Usung said they had also sent a letter to the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg through Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau highlighting the issue and request for the relocation.
However, they have yet to receive any response.
Apart from Long Bemang, several other villages in Apoh region and Tinjar Baram have been flooded since Sunday.
Among the affected villagers are Long Sobeng, Long Tisam, Long Jegan and Long Teran.