Landslides mar Fraser's beauty

Landslides mar Fraser's beauty
By : Elizabeth John

The massive landslide that left a gaping hole in the side of the hill and severed the alternative road up to Fraser's Hill.


What's been keeping the alternate route up to scenic Fraser's Hill closed? A massive slope failure that makes for dramatic pictures and calls for a long, expensive bridge, ELIZABETH JOHN writes.


The Kuala Kubu Baru-Raub road which was also damaged by debris flow from the landslide that hit Route 148 above it.

WHAT is a yawning gap in Route 148 today began as a small landslide in December on this alternative road up to the popular holiday resort of Fraser's Hill.

The Public Works Department appointed a contractor to carry repairs but just a week later, another slope failed in the same spot and worsened for a time.

Now there is little choice but to build a bridge across the chasm, says the Slope Engineering branch, to reconnect the severed road.

The initial landslide was brought on by heavy rain and continued to grow with time, said branch director Datuk Dr Ashaari Mohamad.

The debris flow from the landslide was so bad it destroyed a portion of the Kuala Kubu Baru-Raub road, hundreds of metres downhill.

It had to be closed for repairs too.

The division has been carrying out several studies in the area since and is expected to start repair works soon.

"It will be a costly repair and a lot of work will have to be done to stabilise the slope.

"Soil investigation and design work has been carried out but the repairs will take time," said Ashaari.

The Kuala Kubu Baru-Raub road or Route 55 will most likely be opened to traffic by the end of next month. Preliminary repair works are being carried out now while a permanent solution to the problem is being sought.

Route 148 was opened in the mid-1990s in the hilly area that is prone to landslides.

On average, about 500 cars use that road a day.

"Probably at the time, people were not familiar with slope engineering or the complicated geology of the area."

Since its inception, the division has done a hazard and risk map for the road and many areas have been found to be at a high risk of landslides.

Ashaari said it would take a lot of money to carry out all the mitigation steps necessary.

It isn't just the Fraser's Hill alternative route that is getting the division's attention.

It has begun a major exercise to collect data on slopes along all roads in the country.

There is a list of high-risk slopes but it only includes those reported by district engineers, said Ashaari.

It will tell the division which ones require mitigation and maintenance work as well as the budget required for it.

The division is also carrying out a very detailed study of a 100sq km section of the Ampang-Hulu Kelang hills, which are highly prone to landslides.

The study will help build a hazard and risk map, which the division will use to advise the local council.

If the pilot project is successful, the division will carry out similar ones in landslide-prone areas in other states.

The project is likely to be completed by September, said Ashaari.

The division will also spend RM5 million over the next three years on public awareness, to educate the public, politicians and school children about landslides.

They launched the project last month in Selangor, Penang, Pahang, Perak and Sabah.

The campaigns teach people about how to identify risks and how to maintain their areas.

Big Foot spotted in Sarawak village

SIBU, FRI:

Is there a Big Foot in Sarawak? That’s the question now on everyone’s lips following the discovery of a pair of giant footprints in a Melanau village in Daro in the Mukah Division, about three hours by express boat from here.

The Borneo Post English daily and its sister Chinese language newspaper See Hua Daily News reported the find, footprints measuring 47 inches (119.38 cm) from heel to toe and 17 (43.18 cm) from side to side, on their front pages today.



They reported that a local businessman, Tan Soon Kuang, had claimed to have seen the footprints at the village which he declined to identify at the request of the villagers.


“They are clearly too gigantic to belong to any normal human being,” he was quoted as saying.


Tan had also said that the villagers had mixed feelings about the discovery.


Some were curious while others were scared, he said.


Nevertheless, he said, the villagers had cleared a footpath leading to the footprints in anticipation of more visitors over the weekend.


It would be “tough for a person to create such marks (footprints) on the hard ground”, said Tan.


A civil servant, who requested anonymity, said when contacted that he had seen the footprints but admitted that it was hard to say whether they were genuine without any scientific backing.

He said many people had been coming in the past few days to see the footprints. He also said that in the old days, certain people used the area for solitary meditation in the hope of getting whatever they desired from divine beings.


Jemoreng state assemblyman Abu Seman Jahwie said he had yet to see the footprints although he had heard of the discovery.


Malaysians were in the grip of Big Foot mania about three years ago after several people claimed to have seen a Big Foot family which had left footprints measuring up to 45 cm long in a forested area in Johor.

Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer found in Italy

y MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 11, 3:06 PM ET

ROME - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head — much like the fabled, mythical unicorn — has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.
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"This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."

The 1-year-old Roe Deer — nicknamed "Unicorn" — was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.

He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

Calling it the first time he has seen such a case, Tozzi said such anomalies among deer may have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter.

"This shows that even in past times, there could have been animals with this anomaly," he said by telephone. "It's not like they dreamed it up."

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of — but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said.

"Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case," said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome's zoo. He said the position of the horn could also be the result of a trauma early in the animal's life.

Other mammals are believed to contribute to the myth of the unicorn, including the narwhal, a whale with a long, spiraling tusk.

MEET JOHNNY, THE TURTLE MAN

SANDAKAN, May 28 (Bernama) -- While Johnny Appleseed planted apple seeds in the American wilderness and greened the land, Johnny alias Hasbullah Buis is helping to keep the turtle population thriving in the island wildlife parks off Sabah.

Even after having worked for 23 years on Pulau Bakkungan Kechil, one of the three islands of the Pulau-Pulau Penyu Park, Johnny looks forward with enthusiasm to the dawn of a new day.

"I have never felt bored with my work because the important thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif
Add Imageing is that I am able to help safeguard the turtles which come to nest in this park," he told Bernama here.

Having started work as a park assistant in 1985, he has progressed into a research assistant whose field of work covers Pulau Bakkungan Kecil and the other two islands, Pulau Selingaan and Pulau Gulisaan, making up some 1,740 hectares.

Johnny's work covers tagging turtles, transferring turtle eggs to the hatchery, maintaining the turtle hatchery, and releasing baby turtles into the sea.

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SABAH-JOHNNY 2 (LAST) SANDAKAN

He said he has grown accustomed to living away from his family which occupies the staff quarters here. He is not alone on the island though. For company, he has seven other staff on Pulau Bakkungan Kechil, comprising a park ranger and six junior assistants.

Johnny said their place of work was close to the Malaysia-Philippines border but none of them feared for their safety as there was a military post on the island.

-- BERNAMA

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