Flooding evidence of human activities

I REFER to the article “Are natural disasters man-made?” ( Starbizweek, Nov 11). I fully agree with the views of the writer, Tan Sri Andrew Sheng, as over the past few years, we have indeed seen major floods happening more frequently in our country.

As a citizen, it is utterly frustrating to see that despite these severe floods, we can still see forests on the upper slopes of hills, which are prone to soil erosion, being cleared and there seems to be no sign that this will stop in the near future.

It only takes a drive along the east coast road from Kuala Kangsar to Kota Baru, or along the PLUS Expressway northbound from Ipoh to see the magnitude of this rampant clearing of forested hill slopes.

I live in Kuala Kangsar, the royal town of Perak which was hit by a severe flood in 2015. I jog almost every day along the Perak River and I have noticed that in recent years, it is getting more prone to flooding.

The water can easily rise to a dangerous level even after just a few hours of rain. My fear is that if rain continues to fall for three or four straight days, this quaint town will suffer another flood similar to, if not worse than, the one that happened two years ago.

Even though the river has two hydroelectric dams located upstream, the amount of rain we receive can exceed the capacity of the dams to prevent flooding.

I therefore urge the relevant state authorities to reconsider their decision to approve logging activities on the upper hill areas and impose more stringent rules on logging operations to minimise damage on the environment.

Together, we can work for a much better environment.

AMIR ABDUL NASIR SHAARI Kuala Kangsar