Malaysia log-jam threatens disaster in Sarawak

BBC News 8 Oct 10;

Logs and wood debris flowing down a river in Malaysia have blocked river transport and are threatening major flooding downstream.

The town of Kapit on the Rajang River in Sarawak has already been cut off, state media reported.

Heavy rains have forced millions of cut logs at a timber depot into the river.

The combination of a heavy monsoon season with extensive logging, both legal and illegal, is creating a dangerous situation, local media said.

A major environmental disaster was unfolding in Sarawak, which is heavily forested and logged, The Star newspaper reported.
Fear

The newspaper said heavy rains are believed to have caused a flood at a logging camp on the upper reaches of Balleh River - a tributary of the Rajang - prompting the surge of large logs into the river.

The paper quoted a local businessman as saying that the events were unprecedented.

A Sarawak blog, Hornbill Unleashed, carried pictures of the log jam and demanded action from the government for better infrastructure in the state.

"The chief minister who is in charge of issuing logging licences for the last 30 years should be held responsible," says Hornbill Unleashed in its posting.

The river is the only means of transport for communities in the area and residents further downstream are writing blog and twitter entries expressing fear at what might happen when the log train reaches them.

50km logjam on the Rajang river
Philip Hii The Star 9 Oct 10;

SIBU: Logs and debris, stretching for 50km on the Rajang river, reached Sibu town at about 10am yesterday leaving many people shocked by the scale of what is turning out to be an environmental disaster.

“This is unprecedented and beyond imagination,” Environment and Public Health Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh said after assessing the situation at the Express Passenger Boat Terminal in the morning.

According to a statement from the Natural Resources and Environment Board, the source of these logs and debris were from the Baleh River and its tributaries above Kapit.

Several days of heavy rain earlier this week in Putai and Nu­­ngun in upper Baleh had caused a massive landslide which brought down the logs and debris into the rivers. The high water level and swift current in Baleh River and its tributaries also washed the logs and debris along their banks.

Wong said it was a serious natural disaster which had caught both the public and government off guard.

“We haven’t started to calculate the amount of losses and the damage caused,” he said, adding that once the logs and debris had made their way out of Sibu, the authorities would start to check the foundation of the Durin and Lanang bridges.

It was estimated by a sawmill manager that the volume of the logs and debris would be more than 300,000m3.

The situation was worse around noon when the whole area at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan rivers was completely logjammed. Most of the logs and debris flowed down the Rajang while some of them flowed to the Igan.

The Malay villages which were built on stilts on the right bank of the Igan were fortunate to escape calamity as the logs and debris flowed near the opposite bank.

Meanwhile, Land Development Minister Datuk Seri James Masing blamed unscrupulous timber companies for the disaster. He travelled up the river to Kapit yesterday and was disturbed by what he saw.

“There is still a lot of debris, making travel unsafe. There are also dead fish in the river. It’s an ecological disaster,” Masing, the Baleh assemblyman, told The Star.

He said that this was the third time in three years – the first was in 2008 at Sungai Gat and the second in Sungai Tunoh last year – that such an incident had happened and he feared that it would have far-reaching implications on the state, particularly on the timber industry.

He said the state government had laid down rules for logging but what was happening clearly showed that the rules were not being followed.

“I have gone around the world telling people that we are doing logging correctly. Now this happens. What will people think of us? We must take action against these unscrupulous timber companies.”

He said the authorities concerned must take their job more seriously and enforce the laws stringently.

Rajang River Still Innavigable Due To Massive Floating Debris
Bernama 8 Oct 10;

SIBU, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- The Sarawak government will conduct a thorough investigation into the alarming situation where long stretches of debris floating on the Rajang River has rendered it innavigable to all boats here Friday.

"We need to find out the causes, but if there are evidence to indicate that it is due to human factor, stern action will be taken against the perpetrators," said State Minister of Environment and Public Health Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.

The country's longest river, the Rajang at 563 kilometres long from its source, was innavigable to all boats, big or small, from about noon, here.

The river was like a conveyor belt in a sawmill but instead of transporting uniformly cut wood, it carried an endless flow of uprooted trees, discarded logs and all manner of vegetative debris from Kapit, some 176km away.

Kapit experienced an alarming situation from about 2pm yesterday.

Wong who watched the scene from the Kapit Express Boat Terminal, described the situation as a "natural calamity of gigantic proportion".

"I was told in Kapit yesterday that the debris was about 50km long.

"It is still continuing in Kapit today although happening in smaller portions and length," he told reporters at the scene.

Wong said he had been told that there had been massive landslides in Putai and Nungun, which are logging concession areas in Balleh in the interiors of Kapit Divison due to heavy rain a few days ago.

But he said he was still waiting for detailed reports from the state Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

Wong said the situation had never been seen or experienced here before and was rather scary.

"When the situation improves and there is a navigable path along the river, teams from the Public Works Department and Sarawak Rivers Board will check on the Durin and Lanang bridges to dislodge any debris that might have been trapped at their foundations in the river.

Meanwhile, express boats and other vessels leaving on afternoon trips to Kapit had to delay their trips.

Those who left this morning, had to stop somewhere safe along the route.

-- BERNAMA

River disaster hits Sarawak
PHilip Hii The Star 8 Oct 10;

SIBU: A major environmental disaster is unfolding in the state, as kilometre after kilometre of logs and wood debris flow down the Rajang.

It was believed that heavy rain in the upper reaches of Balleh River – a tributary of the Rajang – had caused landslides at log ponds of a major timber camp and brought down the logs and wood debris.

Kapit businessman Tay Hock Joo, who telephoned The Star in Sibu yesterday evening, said nobody in Kapit had ever seen such an occurrence before.

He said the residents first noticed the debris at about 1pm.

River transport was cut off when logs and debris started filling the entire width of the river by 4pm.

At 7.30pm, the debris was reported to have reached Song and was expected to hit Sibu early in the morning.

Sibu residents are worried by the extent of damage the logs and wood debris would cause to their properties such as jetties and boats.

“We are also worried whether the foundation of the Durin and Lanang bridges are strong enough to withstand the pressure,” said Sibu resident Simon Ting.

Meanwhile, several government officials said the authorities were unprepared for such an incident as it had never happened before and they also did not have the capacity to stop the wood from flowing downstream towards Sibu.

Logjam on Rajang river cleared
The Star 9 Oct 10;

SIBU: The Rajang River became navigable again Saturday after a massive logjam caused by widespread landslides upstream cleared, bringing relief to operators of passenger and cargo vessels.

The long stretch of logs and wooden debris floating downstream from Balleh in the Kapit Division over the past two days has drifted to sea.

Nevertheless, officers from the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) and the Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) were closely monitoring the situation, said Environment and Public Health Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh.

“They are also surveying the damage caused to wharves, jetties and other infrastructure and will help to remove debris stuck there,” he told reporters after presenting a RM10,000 government grant for the construction of the new RM1.25mil St John’s Anglican Church here.

Wong reiterated that the debris was not from the Bakun Dam area in Belaga but Balleh in Kapit.

“The area, with its huge catchment, has experienced very heavy rainfall in the past few days, causing widespread landslide, erosion and flooding.

“The wooden debris which was swept away could have been accumulated there for the past 40 or more years,” he said.

Passenger and cargo boats are able to travel safely and keep to their schedules now.

Over the past two days, it had been nightmarish for the boat operators as they had to delay or postpone trips or stop halfway because of the huge quantities of logs and debris floating downstream.

Ling Kok Chung, 65, who runs the Bahagia Express boat service, said there were no less than 25 express boats plying the Rajang River, of which 16 ply daily from here to Kapit and back.

For some people living along the river, the logjam brought some kind of a windfall.

They ventured out on the river in their longboats to collect logs for sale to the nearest sawmills or for their own use. Others benefited from the bountiful harvests of seemingly “drowsy” fish.

Civil servant Dollah Salleh, 55, said he went out from 8pm to midnight Friday night and scooped up some 6kg of the “baong” (a catfish species) from the Igan River, a tributary of the Rajang.

In Kapit, some fortunate people managed to catch the “empurau” fish which is usually sold for about RM500 per kg.

In MIRI, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan dismissed any notion that the logjam signalled the beginnings of an environmental disaster.

“It is not a natural disaster. I will not want to comment until I have the full report,” he told reporters after opening the Borneo International Beads Conference 2010 Saturday.

He said all quarters should stop speculating on the causes of the logjam and allow the authorities tasked with investigating the matter to complete their job.

Some quarters had blamed logging in the upper reaches of the river for the floating logs and debris.

Dr Chan, who is also the state disaster relief committee chairman, said the wet weather lately could have triggered the situation. -- Bernama