Malaysia: Bear on loose in Kalimantan town

The Jakarta Post 18 Mar 19;

The agency suspect that it is a sun bear and was a resident’s pet. It was first spotted by the residents of a housing complex.

“[We searched] for the dog-sized bear in bushes close to the housing complex but we did not find it,” chief patrol officer Muriansyah told tempo.com on Sunday.

The BKSDA has set up a trap filled with cempedak (a fruit similar to jackfruit) in a bid to capture it, but as of Sunday the bear is still on the run.

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Indonesia: Papua flood death toll climbs to 79, 43 still missing

The Jakarta Post 18 Mar 19;

A seven-hour torrential downpour caused the flood, which has forced 4,728 residents to evacuate to six different emergency shelters. Meanwhile, the BNPB has estimated that 11,725 families have been affected by the flood.

The floodwaters also demolished around 350 houses and inundated 211 others, while public facilities were also torn apart by the disaster, according to BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

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Indonesia: Flooding in Purworejo forces 1,500 to flee homes

Suherdjoko The Jakarta Post 18 Mar 19;

Torrential rain on Saturday and Sunday left four districts in Purworejo, Central Java inundated on Monday, forcing about 1,500 people to flee their homes.

Homes experienced up to 80 centimeters of inundation on Monday, however no fatalities were reported.

"We call on people to be alert and immediately report to us if they need help," Purworejo Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Sutrisno said Monday.

He said Purworejo had received assistance from BPBDs in other regencies in the province, including from Magelang and Kebumen and from a search and rescue agency in Cilacap.

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Mar 19

Our first time guiding over 300 participants at Berlayer Creek, Labrador Park!
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Journey to Becoming a Rockstar: Discovering Geography in Ubin
BES Drongos

Assorted Nectaring Plants - Part 4
Butterflies of Singapore

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Singapore remains unaffected by chemical spill incident in Pasir Gudang: Authorities

Today Online 18 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE — Singapore's air and water quality remains safe, and its water supply is unaffected by the chemical spill incident at Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang, Johor, the Republic's authorities said on Sunday (March 17).

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), the National Environment Agency (NEA), PUB and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a joint statement that they have been closely monitoring the incident since reports of it first surfaced on March 7.

NEA said ambient levels of volatile organic compounds such as benzene in the north-eastern region remain safe.

It added that the 24-hr Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) since March 6 has been in the good to low-moderate range, while the 1-hr PM2.5 readings have remained in Band I (normal).

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Malaysia: Cleaning up of 1.5km-stretch of Sungai Kim Kim over

Bernama New Straits Times 17 Mar 19;

JOHOR BAHRU: The cleaning up process along 1.5 kilometres of Sungai Kim Kim, in Pasir Gudang near here, which began on Wednesday, following dumping of toxic chemical waste there, was completed today.

Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said, however, monitoring would continue today to see if anything more needs to be done.

“The 1.5 km-stretch of Sungai Kim Kim that was polluted has already been cleaned up but today we want to see what more ‘touch up’ we can do.

“Today can be said to be a day of monitoring. After that, then only we can look into what further action is needed,” she told the media at the state Disaster Management Committee’s operations room here.

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Malaysia: Kedah implements water rationing amidst protracted dry spell, heatwave

New Straits Times 17 Mar 19;

ALOR STAR: Declining water supply as a result of the ongoing nationwide heatwave has forced the Kedah government to implement water rationing in several areas in the state, Bernama reported.

Although no emergency has been declared, water supply restrictions have been applied in Merbok, Tanjung Dawai, Bedong, Semeling, Singkir and Gurun – areas worst affected by the months-long dry spell.

“(The level of) water rationing will depend on the severity of water (scarcity in each area). If need be, we will channel water to the affected areas.

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Malaysia: Nation at risk of fire

sira habibu, martin carvalho, and stephanie lee The Star 18 Mar 19;

PETALING JAYA: The entire Penin­sular Malaysia (except for Klang), Sabah and parts of Sarawak between Miri and Bintulu have been identified as being at extreme risk of fire, said Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general Alui Bahari.

“Open burning is strictly prohibi­ted as it will be extremely difficult to control fire under the current hot and dry spell,” he said when asked to comment on the code red warnings issued by the department in certain areas nationwide.

The red code is issued by the department’s Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) to indicate extreme level of risk of forest fires, unbeatable bush fires and drought.

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The Big Read: To build a strong water-saving culture, S'pore needs more than recycled messages

NAVENE ELANGOVAN Today Online 16 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE — Five families roughed it out at Marina Reservoir by surviving on only five litres of water for 12 hours on a cold night on March 1. They were participating in a water-rationing camp run by outdoor recreations company Better Trails.

The camp, which was supported by PUB, was one of several initiatives for the agency's latest water-saving campaign, “Make Every Drop Count”.

Launched on March 2 as part of Singapore World Water Day, it will run for an entire year, making it one of its biggest and longest to date. Previous editions in recent years had lasted a month at most.

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Malaysia: DoE finds waste dumping site

lo tern chern The Star 17 Mar 19;

BUKIT MERTAJAM: While work is underway to clear Sungai Kim Kim in Johor, another case of illegal chemical waste dumping may have been detected deep inside an oil palm estate in Bukit Teh near here.

Located behind a scrapyard and far from the public eye lies approximately 15 barrels of dark pungent liquid.

The Department of Environment (DoE) visited the site after a report was lodged and the site has now been covered with silver metallic sheets.

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Malaysia: Chemical waste pollution in Sg Kim Kim affects livelihood of fishermen

The Star 17 Mar 19;

JOHOR BARU (Bernama): The chemical waste pollution in Pasir Gudang, since March 7, has not only affected the health of people around the region but has led to a decline in catch and fishermen's sales to drop.

South Johor Fishermen's Association chairman, Azli Mohamad Aziz said 650 members of the association from several villages claimed their sales revenue had dropped by 50% over the last 10 days since the incident..

"The pollution has affected 250 fishermen from four villages around Sungai Kim Kim, namely orang asli fisherman from Telok Kabung, Kampung Perigi Aceh, Kampung Pasir Putih and Kampung Pasir Gudang Baru, to whom the river was a source of income," he said when met at the Kampung Pasir Gudang Baru fishermen's market, here Saturday (March 16).

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Malaysia: Schools in Pasir Gudang still closed

Bernama New Straits Times 16 Mar 19;

BANTING: The Education Ministry confirms that 111 schools in the Pasir Gudang district were still closed due to the toxic pollution from the dumping of chemicals into Sungai Kim Kim.

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the schools concerned would be reopened at a date to be announced later.

"We look at the situation first. We don’t have a date for the reopening of the schools," he told reporters after officiating the Private Education Open Day at MAHSA University, here, today.

On Wednesday, the ministry directed 111 schools in Pasir Gudang closed following the toxic pollution based on the current situation and feedback from the State Disaster Management Committee.

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