IPOH: Fifty years ago, many Gunung Cheroh villagers lost their loved ones during a rockslide in 1973.
That site was the then-Kampung Kacang Putih, located at the foothill of the limestone hills where the incident claimed 40 lives and destroyed 20 houses.
The incident happened at about 7pm during a heavy downpour on Oct 18, 1973, a week before the settlement residents, majority who were Indians, were busy preparing for Deepavali.
Some of the bodies of the victims have yet to be found.
Several villagers recounted the heart-wrenching tragedy during an event organised on Tuesday (Oct 24) by the Perak National Archives Department.
The two speakers who narrated the event were, P. Mariyaee, 70, who is a caretaker of a small Hindu temple inside the limestone cave there, and T. Subrumaniam, 62, a kacang putih entrepreneur in Buntong.
Mariyaee, who was 19 at the time, claimed that between 5.30pm and 6pm, while she was at her house, an old man wearing dirty looking clothes had approached her and told her to run away from the place, as rocks were going to fall.
"I told my family, and many other villagers about what the man said, but no one believed me, and later the disaster happened killing so many people.
"Just before the incident happened, cows and goats started to become restless, and they were making all sorts of sounds.
"My brother’s wife and their two children died during the incident. My sister-in-law's body was found floating after three days in a nearby pool," she said, adding that the man the villagers later believed was a pious person who knew what was about to happen.
Subrumaniam, who was 12 when the tragedy happened, said his father was the chairman of Kampung Kacang Putih then.
"I remember on that fateful day, I was watching television, and suddenly the power went off.
"It was raining very heavily, and the winds were blowing very strongly," he added.
Subrumaniam said the area where the tragedy happened was pitch dark, and when he went out to see, there were already police, firemen, ambulance and army personnel at the site.
"The place was cordoned off, and rescue efforts were being conducted.
"For the whole year, we received visitors who were curious to see the site where the tragedy took place," he said, adding that a year after the tragedy, the villagers were moved to the current Kampung Kacang Putih in Buntong.
Another two villagers, Joyah Saad, 61, and V. Krishnamah, 74 met after the event, also narrated what happened on that day.
Joyah said she was nine-years-old, and during that incident she lost her father and older sister.
"There were trees falling everywhere, it was raining so heavily, and the winds were really strong causing the roof to be blown away.
"My father was in the shower, and my sister at my neighbour’s house helping them make cookies.
"The electricity went off, and I saw other villagers coming to my aid, and taking me out of the house," she said, only later she learnt that her father and sister had perished.
Krishnamah said she was 24 when the incident took place, and she lost her mother, her sister and a brother.
"I had gone out to buy clothes for Deepavali, and when I was on my way back, a relative told me about the disaster.
"We camped at the hospital, and the bodies of the three were never recovered until today," she said, adding that for many years she could not bring herself to visit the site, or even attended Thaipusam at the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunung Cheroh.
Perak human resources, health, Indian community affairs and national integration committee chairman A. Sivanesan told reporters that a memorial site would be constructed at the site very soon.
"I am estimating the cost to be between RM30,000 and RM40,000. I am also pleading to the people not to throw rubbish at the site and respect the dead. Just a day before the event, heaps of rubbish were cleared from the area," he said.
