Landslide in Brunei?

Bandar Seri Begawan - Authorities have still not taken necessary measures to tackle landslide problems faced by residents in Kg Sungai Akar despite having been informed about the matter several months ago.

"I have written a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs three months ago, but am yet to receive a reply from them," said Village Head Hj Ramlee Hj Md Zain. "From my knowledge, the ministry is supposed to address a problem within two weeks after a complaint is lodged."

The act of procrastination by the ministry has caused unnecessary unrest and problems to village residents affected by landslides around this area, he added.

Hj Ramlee also highlighted the dissatisfaction of the victims in his letter to the ministry with regards to the decision taken by the Community Development Department, that the victims were non-compensable because the landslide did not affect the internal parts of their homes.

"Out of the 10 victims that I have listed in my letter, six of them have opted to fix the damage on their own with fear that the situation may worsen and lead to undesirable consequences," he said. "They could not wait any longer as they did not know exactly when the government will actually take action in rectifying the problem."

The government's lack of response and assistance forced Hjh Rajidah Hj Mohd Zain, one of the victims, to fork out her own money to mend the landslide problem that had affected her property.

"The landslide happened just after my husband passed away and that left me with financial constraint," she said.

"I had no choice but to borrow money from the village head, since it was very dangerous to leave the problem as it was because have young children running around the house."

Pointing to the visible cracks on the concrete floor, the 55-year-old widow expressed her fear that the rainy season may cause her property to experience another landslide despite having attempted to mend the previous damage.

"We are very worried about our safety, so I hope the authorities will really do something to help us, the victims," added Hjh Rajidah.

Another resident around the affected area, Betty Chang, commented that the roadblock placed by authorities near her house due to the recent landslide occurrence has caused much inconvenience to both nearby residents and drivers.

"The road has been blocked for many months now, but they still have not dealt with the problem," said the 45-year-old manager.

She added: "The two-laned highway road has been narrowed down to one. This is very dangerous because drivers often speed when driving down this road and some were not able to reduce their speed in time to avoid colliding with the traffic cones placed there."

Sugu Raju, 45, mentioned that the recent heavy downpour have posed a greater threat to drivers passing by the Simpang 51 road.

"It is dangerous and irresponsible for the authorities to have left their job midway in fixing the slope that had caused the landslide." said the Indian High Commission worker.

-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

With Love: Amirul010