Published: Tuesday June 23, 2009 MYT 3:34:00 PM
Another drought-stricken village in Borneo sends SOS
By JACK WONG
KUCHING: A remote drought-stricken village in Daro district in Mukah division in Borneo has sent out an SOS for drinking water, the latest among a number of villages in northern Sarawak hit by the recent dry spell.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said the village had asked for 700 boxes of bottled drinking water.
’’I have instructed the state Welfare Deparment to send the drinking water to them,’’ he told reporters at his office at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here on Tuesday.
Dr Chan, also state disaster relief committee chairman, said the affected village had several hundred residents.
The state authorities have also sent clean water to rural settlements and schools in northern Sarawak that have been affected by the long dry spell worsened by land degraded by widespread logging.
As the state braces for drier weather in the next few months, Dr Chan has ordered cloud seeding to induce rain.
He said the operation had to start immediately as there were rain-bearing clouds now.
On the haze experienced in the city Tuesday, Dr Chan said opening burning in town and by plantation companies would be banned.
However, he said the authorities had allowed opening burning in rural agricultural areas by traditional farmers.
’’We are not worried about surface burning activities,’’ he added.
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