Ranau mudslide not all negative: Prof
Published on: Monday, July 06, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The recent mudslide in Ranau should not be seen as catastrophic since it is a nature's way of repairing itself after a major natural disaster.Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Assoc. Prof. Dr Kawi Bidin said while it is indeed a terrible incident to befall the people who live in the area, it is actually a positive event because it meant the rivers are trying to restore itself."From my estimation, about 80 per cent of the upstream area were affected. You saw the photos of debris caught up in the water treatment plant. Those were all carried through the river.
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"Without the treatment plant, all these debris will be washed away and disappear. But because of the plant, they got stuck there," he said.Kawi also denied allegations that the wood debris, consisting of various sizes of dead branches and tree trunks, were due to illegal logging in the Kinabalu National Park.If there were really illegal logging activities in the area, he said, all that was left would have been small twigs because loggers would have carried away all the branches out."Some of the wood debris that were caught at the plant can be used as timber. I tried to find tree stumps because these would have proven that some form of logging have happened and strong current from the landslide would root out these stumps.
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"But I did not find a single stump. Only twigs, branches, trunks. There are all there," he said.As a hydrologist, Kawi said he had done numerous researches on dam debris, debris flows, and natural dam and concluded that the landslide and massive debris it carried with it was just a river's way of repairing itself.
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"Except in this case, it was major because there were too much wastes. But that's the way God arranges nature. The debris were stuck at the plant because there is a structure that interferes the flows."Otherwise, the debris would slowly release itself, either the plant will break or whatever," he said.Regarding the concern that the same incident might happen in Mesilau, Kawi said the situation is still under control and he does not think a similar major mud flood will happen in the area.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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