At Borneo Divers we pride ourselves in working closely with the local population on both our East and West coast operations.
So when disaster struck the local village water village in Semporna on the night of 25th March we jumped straight on the phone to see what we could do.
We had been experiencing quite a prolonged period of drought in the area, so when fire began over the Semporna Water Bungalows it spread rapidly throughout the entire wooden stilted community literally making over 2000 people homeless in an instant.
We all know that fire is relentless once it gets a grip on an area, but nobody expected the sheer devastation that took place that evening With over 300 houses literally burnt to the ground in a matter of hours.
The following morning, once news spread on this disaster, our Group General Manager, Mr. Luke J Cox, made immediate contact with local businessman Stanley Sie, who has incredibly close links with the affected community to see what could be done.
It was clear that with over 2000 people made immediately homeless and with all of their possessions destroyed, the immediate thing required was food and water.
Within a matter of hours, Borneo Divers mobilised a team from our Borneo Divers Mabul Resort to make speed into Semporna to see what could be done.
At the same time, we mobilised 100 cartons of mineral water, 100 sacks of rice and 100 cartons of instant noodles to the community centre which was the temporary housing for our poor affected community.
The Borneo Divers team worked tirelessly into the night offering supplies, compassion and support to the community members who come from all walks of life and are of a wide age range.
Since this disaster, the rebuilding work has commenced and Borneo Divers will continue to be there to support the community in any way we can.
We would like to thank our good friend Mr. Stanley Sie for acting as a guiding light and father figure to our community and we wish our blessed local village a speedy recovery.
Images used in this article are courtesy of our local contacts in Semporna and our hard-working Resort Executive, Ramesh.
Well done team and thank you for your hard work and efforts which we know have gone a long way into offering some comfort for our villagers whilst they rebuild their lives.
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