Assemblyman joins villagers in ‘gotong royong’ at Kampung Lereng Bukit
MIRI: About 100 people comprising villagers of Kampung Lereng Bukit, staff of District Office (DO) and Resident Office as well as Miri City Council had a busy morning conducting a mass ‘gotong royong’ (work party) activity at the village yesterday.
Apart from clearing weeds and cutting grass, the team took extra effort to clean up the area around the multi-purpose hall.
According to Kampung Lereng Bukit village security and development committee (JKKK) chairman Penghulu Samad Ali, the work party which is an annual event by the village aims to provide a more conducive and safe environment for the landslide victims who are temporarily residing at the multi-purpose hall.
“Even though it is our yearly event, if there is a need for a mass cleaning up at any area in our village, the villagers will be happy to help out,” he told reporters.
Currently, he said, the 20 victims from six families who were evacuated due to a landslide at Canada Hill are temporarily housed at the multi-purpose hall.
“We are actually in the midst of deciding on how to resettle them, as the rain still pours almost every evening. We will have to wait until the rain stops completely for several days and have the affected area declared safe, before letting them return home.
“If the situation persists, we might let them temporarily rent other places, so that they could have better living environment for their young children,” he said.
Also participating in the event was Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting who hoped that the situation at the Kampung Lereng Bukit would not persist.
“There are young toddlers who are in need of better care. Although several personnel from Civil Defence Department (JPAM) have been there since day one to assist the landslide victims, we are hoping that things would turn out better for them, and that they could get back to their daily routine,” said Ting.
He revealed that SUPP Piasau youth wing had contributed several dozen pairs of rubber shoes, raincoats and torchlight to the villagers, to help them cope with the rain and any possible flash flood situation.
“We will continue to monitor and would help out if they need further assistance.”