no, it's got nothing to do with Elvis song. Rather about the earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 that shook the people around Sabah this morning. It was felt around KK, Penampang, Keningau, Tambunan and as far as Kota Marudu but mostly in Kundasang and Ranau.
Heard some casualties among the 195 climbers to Mt Kinabalu. All the rescue teams and hospitals in Ranau and Kundasang are on now standby. The climbers are trapped by falling rocks. Ropes apparently snapped and some slight tremors are still felt. Arrangements are being made to rescue them by helicopter but hampered by thick mist. Praying everyone and everything will be A ok.
It was around 7.15 am or so this morning and I was doing the laundry. The machine was on spin mode but strangely was shaking more than usual which puzzled me but did not suspect anything. Then I noticed that the whole house was shaking. I ran to the living room and saw the TV wobbling vigorously for about 5 seconds. Thank God, nothing fell. I frozed.. My other half who was seated at the dining table having his coffee shouted, 'it is earthquake!!' Then I heard commotion from the the neighbour. With shaking hands, I sent a watsapp message to one of my group chat asking them whether they felt the tremor. Thereon, my phone never stopped.
My Committee and I together with 8 Unduk Ngadau are scheduled to travel to Ranau tomorrow for the Majlis Rumah Terbuka Kaamatan Kebangsaan 2015 and to stay at a homestay in Kundasang. We are still waiting if any changes to the program and/or whether the event will be cancelled. No aftershocks so far. Apart from the casualties at the mountain and some damages to properties in Kundasang and Ranau, no other major damages in KK. We are all fine..
Some believe that the calamity is a warning, as the spirits of the mountain has not been appeased. The mountain has been desecrated recently when four women and six men, who were in a group of 27 Europeans climbing the mountain on May 30, left the main group and headed towards South Peak, where they allegedly stripped naked and ignored warnings and pleads from their guide to stop. They instead called him stupid and even asked him to go to hell.
Superstitions or not, one should show respect to the environment and mother earth. The 4,095m Mountain is a World Heritage site and is sacred to the Kadazandusuns as the 'abode of the dead' and should be treated with respect.
Now I may have to remove my sidebar pic of Mt Kinabalu and Dr Ben's beautiful quote about our Land Below the Wind not being affected by hurricanes or earthquakes...because we are..
"..a beautiful country is Sabah, Malaysia - Land Below the Wind, where earthquakes and hurricanes never rage to disturb climatic serenity and life's tranquility"... Dr. Ben Topin
Echoing the prayers for Sabah from friends..
"Stay safe friends and family in Sabah. Heavenly Father, we uphold Sabah and the surroundings unto your hand and protect everyone living in this land from any natural disaster. Lord, cancel all the evil plans that have been made for Sabah and have mercy on everyone who lives here. Protect us from any harm and dangers and cover us with Your most Holy Blood. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Mother Mary, lead the throng of Angels of God to intercede for us and the whole world. Amen."
7th June 2015
My prayers go out to all those bereaved families who have lost their loved ones in the Mount Kinabalu Earthquake and to the brave Mountain Guides who are the real heroes who worked tirelessly risking their own lives to get the mountain climbers and workers down. Let's continue to pray for our beloved country and may the Lord protect us from all natural disasters. The official casualties as of now is 13 with several others injured. This being school holidays, many of the climbers were young students, mostly Singaporeans, some as young as 11 year olds. *cries*
May the souls of the Mountain Guides who perished while on a rescue mission and also the climbers rest in peace. Amen.
stranded climbers waiting to be rescued.
Heard some casualties among the 195 climbers to Mt Kinabalu. All the rescue teams and hospitals in Ranau and Kundasang are on now standby. The climbers are trapped by falling rocks. Ropes apparently snapped and some slight tremors are still felt. Arrangements are being made to rescue them by helicopter but hampered by thick mist. Praying everyone and everything will be A ok.
It was around 7.15 am or so this morning and I was doing the laundry. The machine was on spin mode but strangely was shaking more than usual which puzzled me but did not suspect anything. Then I noticed that the whole house was shaking. I ran to the living room and saw the TV wobbling vigorously for about 5 seconds. Thank God, nothing fell. I frozed.. My other half who was seated at the dining table having his coffee shouted, 'it is earthquake!!' Then I heard commotion from the the neighbour. With shaking hands, I sent a watsapp message to one of my group chat asking them whether they felt the tremor. Thereon, my phone never stopped.
My Committee and I together with 8 Unduk Ngadau are scheduled to travel to Ranau tomorrow for the Majlis Rumah Terbuka Kaamatan Kebangsaan 2015 and to stay at a homestay in Kundasang. We are still waiting if any changes to the program and/or whether the event will be cancelled. No aftershocks so far. Apart from the casualties at the mountain and some damages to properties in Kundasang and Ranau, no other major damages in KK. We are all fine..
some damages to properties. Image sent by a friend through watsapp.
Superstitions or not, one should show respect to the environment and mother earth. The 4,095m Mountain is a World Heritage site and is sacred to the Kadazandusuns as the 'abode of the dead' and should be treated with respect.
Now I may have to remove my sidebar pic of Mt Kinabalu and Dr Ben's beautiful quote about our Land Below the Wind not being affected by hurricanes or earthquakes...because we are..
"..a beautiful country is Sabah, Malaysia - Land Below the Wind, where earthquakes and hurricanes never rage to disturb climatic serenity and life's tranquility"... Dr. Ben Topin
Echoing the prayers for Sabah from friends..
"Stay safe friends and family in Sabah. Heavenly Father, we uphold Sabah and the surroundings unto your hand and protect everyone living in this land from any natural disaster. Lord, cancel all the evil plans that have been made for Sabah and have mercy on everyone who lives here. Protect us from any harm and dangers and cover us with Your most Holy Blood. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Mother Mary, lead the throng of Angels of God to intercede for us and the whole world. Amen."
7th June 2015
My prayers go out to all those bereaved families who have lost their loved ones in the Mount Kinabalu Earthquake and to the brave Mountain Guides who are the real heroes who worked tirelessly risking their own lives to get the mountain climbers and workers down. Let's continue to pray for our beloved country and may the Lord protect us from all natural disasters. The official casualties as of now is 13 with several others injured. This being school holidays, many of the climbers were young students, mostly Singaporeans, some as young as 11 year olds. *cries*
May the souls of the Mountain Guides who perished while on a rescue mission and also the climbers rest in peace. Amen.
It was shocked to heard that earthquake.
ReplyDeleteIt was even shocked to learn the number of casualty.
The God is angry.
I still remember my tour guide reminded us not to shout up at My. KK.
That is a respect.
rainfield61, it is very sad indeed that lives were lost especially those innocent children and of course the Mountain Guides who cared more in saving the climber's lives than their own. If only help came earlier, there would have been less fatalities. These guys are the unsung heroes.
ReplyDeleteAnd those who desecrated the mountain ought to be brought to justice. I remember my own ascent to the mountain a long time ago, my mother told us to be respectful and even if one has to answer nature's call along the way, one must ask permission from the forest first.
Lost your blog through its on-again-off-again mode swings :).
ReplyDeleteThis cataclysm does not altogether come as a surprise, after considering the local legend of how the mountain grows each year by a man's fist measure. While this hasn't been verified, it does attest to the fact that this mountain isn't a natural progression from its surroundings, standing waist, shoulders and head above all the rest in the area, whereby even Trus Madi is half its height.
Yet, while speaking of unsung heroes, when much has been said about them by admirers and hatemongers alike, then no longer are they unsung. If you knew of the kind of elements my juniors in the attendant airborne services had to deal with, you would have a better understanding of how chaos is the first rule of the day in the event of a catastrophe. In the final analysis, the mustered agencies had to deal with the situation on their own as best they could without coordinated information or resolution from the agencies under which this incident fell. Did the National Park have an emergency response plan for an earthquake upon the mountain?
Your state has been under the watch of many who have served with dedication and ardour for many many years, no matter where their kampungs of origin are. It is not the people who serve who abandoned anyone on that slope, and all who turned up wanted for a better way to execute rescue plans. There s much more to this than meets the eye, but the trouble with this entire nation is that whilst we know what is going wrong, we tend to blame the first person who turns up trying to help us, for a dire lack of understanding of the hierarchy in command of a bad situation.
If you question the porosity of your waters, even a cursory glance at the map of your state would easily tell you why this happens. Along the Northern water ways, whilst it has occurred even whilst I was a schoolboy in KK, the incidence is by far sporadically low in comparison to the Eastern waterways, especially after the MNLF decayed into the MILF and decided to take things to an international level through Abu Sayyaff. My boys were amongst the first on ground in Sandakan to render support to the local authorities, yet we were ignored and made to wait indefinitely under the shade of the trees. We were ready. We wanted to get something done. But because the upper echelons had not decided what was to be done, waiting in frustration was all that could be done. And so forth, the way it remains till this day.
In short, there is far more to this than meets the eye, and consideration should be given to the fact that we are well able to contain a low intensity conflict, and yet it has not fully ben effected along the Eastern waterways. Why this is so, is something you can answer with some applications of logic.