VOLUNTEERS are risking their lives every time they go out to send much-needed food assistance to the hundreds of isolated villages and longhouses scattered in Sarawak’s rural areas, said deputy chief minister James Masing.

Since the movement-control order (MCO) came into effect, one volunteer was killed in the course of sending basic essentials to settlements in the interior of the state.

Masing Seliong, 35, from Ulu Kanowit, drowned on April 7 when his longboat capsized in the boulder-strewn stretch of Sg Ensiring which swelled after an afternoon downpour.

Seliong was in a boat with two others to send bags of rice to a remote longhouse in Nanga Nilau near Kanowit more than 200km from Kuching. The longhouse is on the upper reaches of the river.

His two friends managed to swim to safety.

In areas where there are “roads”, danger still lurks as these roads are nothing more than dirt tracks hacked out of the forest by timber companies for transporting logs to ponds.

Since these timber roads have their own “safety rules”, only those used to driving under such conditions are hired for the supply runs.

“These are our challenges delivering the food packages to the longhouses in my constituency,” said Masing.

He told The Malaysian Insight there are about 200 longhouses in his constituency of Baleh in Kapit and all needed food assistance.

The longhouse residents are also affected by the MCO, which was enforced on March 18 to break the spread of Covid-19 infections.

Usually longhouse residents would pool their money and go into town to buy supplies or for doctors’ appointments but that cannot be done now as group travel is forbidden during the MCO.

A two-hour trip to the nearest town costs RM100 for fuel, apart from money needed to buy provisions.

Masing said in some instances, it would take a supply convoy three to four hours to reach some of the longhouses even if these longhouses are only a few kilometres from Kapit town.

The drive on the timber roads is usually slow as they are treacherous, particularly after a downpour.

Tackling a slippery mud-churned incline is tricky as these roads have no guard rails.

A slip could see them slide off the road and down the ravine on either side that are usually several metres deep.

Despite this, Masing said the delivery teams will continue what they have been doing in the last few days, rain or shine.

“I am forever grateful for their effort helping those in need in the far-flung places.”

In the urban constituencies, the challenges are different.

Assistant minister of education, science and technological research Dr Annuar Rapaee said reaching out to the town’s urban poor is the most difficult part.

In a posting on his Facebook page, he stated finding those in need in the villages and longhouses within his constituency could be quite a breeze “as we have a list of them”.

“But the urban poor in Sibu, they are scattered everywhere, in rented rooms all over town,” said the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) assemblyman for the urban constituency of Nangka in Sibu town.

He even appealed to Sibu folk to watch out for their neighbours and to report to the resident’s office if they know of anyone in need.

There are some 31,000 households in this town in central Sarawak who are eligible for the food assistance.

As of yesterday, there are 371 cases of Covid-19 in the state since the first positive case was detected on March 13. The death toll is 14. – April 16, 2020.