Monsoon brings fear of further beach erosion

KOTA BHARU: Some 500 people who live by Pantai Mek Mas and in Pulau Kundur here risk having their homes swept away every monsoon season.

Every roaring wave of the South China Sea strikes fear in their hearts as just a few years ago, some of them had witnessed their homes battered by the waves while they stood helplessly by.

Despite knowing the risks, many of them had no other choice but to continue living in their homes, as it had been their family’s for generations.

These giant waves usually strike the coastal area during the monsoon season, from October through March of the following year.

It causes beach erosion, bringing houses along the coastal area nearer to the water and destroying some in the process. Some violent waves have even swept entire homes into the ocean. The worst affected areas are the settlements along Pantai Mek Mas.

King tide

Beach erosion has caused the home of one of the settlers, Isa Hasan, to now stand only five metres away from the beach. When the king tide phenomenon occurred in December 2014, the 65-year- old found his home thighdeep in water.

“The incident has settlers here on the edge every monsoon season as the high tide could hit their homes at any time, especially at night.

“I lost thousands of ringgit worth of electrical goods when my house became f looded due to the phenomenon that year,” he told Bernama when met recently.

The father of 18 said that the last king tide took place in January. He was, however, grateful that the state Drainage and Irrigation Department ( DID) had built a temporary barrier to reduce the impact of the beach erosion.

Another settler, Abdul Aziz Mamat, 63, said that his house used to be a distance away from the beach in the 1970s. However, the years of beach erosion has now brought his home to just 10 metres away from the coastline.

High tide causing floods

“During high tide, waves measuring as high as three metres would crash into the village and cause flooding. Although it would last for only two or three hours, it causes a lot of distress to the villagers because anything can happen during high tide,” he said.

Abdul Aziz said that every time a wave crashes onto the shore during the king tide, his house would shake like an earthquake has just occurred. This has made the villagers so fearful that they were unable to go to sleep at night.

“Over the last few years, many houses that have been built along the beach have become buried under the sand due to the beach erosion. Villagers have lost thousands of ringgit,” he said.

The State DID Director Kamal Mustapha said that the National Coastal Erosion Survey in 2015 found that waves can go as high as 2.5 and 3.5 metre during the monsoon season, near Pantai Mek Mas.

Severe erosion

Kamal said that this has resulted in 10 to 18 metres of coastal erosion along a twokilometre stretch on the beach.

“As a result, the homes of some 500 settlers, most of whom are fishermen and low-income earners are now affected. In addition to that, SK Pantai Kundor and an observation station are also at risk,” he said.

Following that, the DID did emergency erosion prevention work in 2016 and 2017 while awaiting allocation for a more permanent solution to the problem from the federal government.

Kamal said the settlers along Pantai Mek Mas would soon be able to put their fears to rest as the federal government had approved of an allocation for a project to prevent soil erosion at Pantai Mek Mas under the 11th Malaysia Plan.

The tender for the project will open in early 2019.

Kamal said the RM18 million allocation allowed for a project that would comprise the building of a 2.75-kilometre long protective shield measuring four metres in height, groins ( man- made structures designed to trap sand as it is moved down the beach by the longshore drift) and embankment.

“The construction work is scheduled to start in May 2019 and is expected to be completed within two years,” he said.