Sarawak deploys welfare teams with drinking water to drought-hit Dalat villages as forest fires and haze crisis worsen
DALAT: Sarawak is now fighting two crises simultaneously. While firefighters battle raging peatland and forest fires across nine districts, a worsening dry spell has begun choking off drinking water supplies to rural communities — prompting the state government to mobilise emergency water deployments to affected villages and longhouses.
State Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah (pic) confirmed today that the state Welfare Department has begun delivering bottled drinking water to communities in the central Sarawak district of Dalat, where water shortages have become acute.
“The Social Welfare Department has already delivered drinking water to a longhouse in Ulu Baoh,” she said, adding that similar assistance would continue for as long as the dry spell persists.
Fatimah, who is also the Dalat assemblywoman, made the announcement during the Civil Defence Force (APM) Dalat Excellence Appreciation Ceremony held in Dalat town — an event that underscored the increasingly critical role first responders are playing as multiple emergencies converge across the state.
The Meteorological Department has forecast that the current hot and dry conditions will persist until at least June 2026.
The minister warned that if no significant rainfall occurs within that window, Sarawak could face prolonged drought conditions. She noted that rivers across the state are already receding, with water levels falling to concerning levels in several areas.
“We have received reports of dwindling water reserves from multiple areas. The Welfare Department and water supply departments are now drawing up emergency contingency plans,” Fatimah said.
The dry spell is not only threatening water supplies — it is fuelling fires in communities too. A house in Kampung Senau, Dalat, was destroyed by fire on Thursday, an incident Fatimah attributed directly to the dangerous conditions brought on by the dry season.
She urged residents to exercise caution, reminding parents to supervise their children and calling on smokers to dispose of cigarette butts responsibly to prevent further fires from breaking out.
APM ground teams have been placed on standby to support both water distribution efforts and fire response operations as the situation develops.
The drought and fires are unfolding against a broader regional crisis. The Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) has activated its haze operations room across the state after satellite monitoring detected 18 fire hotspots within Sarawak this month and a further 241 across Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo Island.
NREB has imposed a blanket ban on all forms of open burning statewide and has suspended the issuance of controlled burning permits to land developers. Investigations are currently ongoing into suspected illegal burning at Kuala Tatau-Serupai in Tatau district, as well as in Bintulu and Sibu. Anyone found to have violated the open burning ban faces fines of up to RM100,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
The board is coordinating with the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) in Singapore, which is providing real-time satellite imagery to track fire activity across Borneo.
On the firefighting front, helicopters from Miri — roughly 250 kilometres away — are continuing aerial water-bombing operations over the Kuala Tatau-Serupai area in Tatau district, where peatland fires have consumed an estimated 200 hectares of land. Similar operations are ongoing in Bintulu and Sibu districts, where multiple large blazes are burning simultaneously.
Fire crews on the ground continue to battle difficult conditions — fires burning in terrain with no road access, scarce water sources, and relentless heat. The coming weeks, with dry weather forecast to extend deep into mid-year, promise little relief.
The Sun Malaysia
