Sarawak PKR delivers emergency water to drought-hit rural communities as wildfires and haze worsen.
KUCHING: Sarawak’s rural communities are facing a deepening water crisis, with some longhouse residents reportedly going without drinkable water for over two weeks.
Sarawak PKR has launched emergency humanitarian missions to deliver bottled water to the worst-affected areas, even as state authorities scramble to respond to a worsening drought compounded by raging wildfires across the region.
Among the areas bearing the brunt of the drought is Sarikei district in central Sarawak. Bruce Yee, Sarikei PKR division chief, described the ground situation as critical after party volunteers conducted assessments of affected communities.
According to Yee, residents in longhouses and kampungs along Jalan Sungai Mawang, on the outskirts of Sarikei town, had been without access to drinkable water for more than two weeks when his team arrived. He noted that the communities there have never had access to treated piped water supply — a situation that has reportedly persisted for six decades — leaving them entirely dependent on rainwater collection. With the onset of dry weather, that source has dried up, and the rivers in the area have become too silted and murky to be used for drinking or cooking.
“Rural folks who are without water have approached us for help. They said they had been waiting for weeks for help from the authorities already,” Yee said, adding that Sarikei PKR has since begun distributing large quantities of bottled water to the affected settlements. His team is also working to identify other longhouses and kampungs in the district that may require urgent assistance.
The state government has also begun responding to the crisis in other areas. The state Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development directed its Welfare Department to begin emergency water distribution to villages in Dalat, another central Sarawak district facing acute shortages.
Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah confirmed that her ministry had received multiple reports of dwindling water reserves among rural communities in the area. Deliveries have already commenced to residents in Ulu Boah, a populated rural locality within Dalat, where shortages are said to be severe.
“Rivers are also getting shallow. The dry spell is worsening and we will have to be on alert for prolonged drought,” the minister cautioned, speaking at a community event in Dalat.
She added that the Welfare Department and water supply agencies are actively drawing up emergency contingency plans, while district offices compile data on the full extent of the areas affected.
The drought crisis is unfolding alongside a surge in forest and wildfires across Sarawak. The Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) has placed the state on red alert for regional haze, triggered by worsening fire conditions both within Sarawak and across the border in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo island.
In its most recent public alert, the NREB reported that 18 large wildfires had been detected within Sarawak during the current month alone, while satellite imagery identified 241 hotspots in Kalimantan.
Ground reports from the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department point to a surge in large fire cases across multiple districts, spanning the state from north to south — including Miri-Kuala Baram, Tatau and Bintulu in the north; Sibu and Mukah in the centre; and Betong, Sri Aman and Kuching in the south.
Firefighters have been battling blazes daily, though extreme heat and persistently dry conditions continue to hamper their efforts.
