KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — A damage assessment for the purpose of providing financial assistance to flood victims will be done immediately, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad.
According to him, the report will be prepared by the District Office in areas affected by the natural disaster and should be evaluated by the District Technical Committee before assistance can be coordinated.
“We see in Selangor many people complaining about the loss of property and infrastructure such as vehicles, houses washed away by floods and I also want to explain the kind of care and compensation, (it) might not be the full amount but there will be a contribution from the government to cover the damages,” he said.
He said this during a press conference by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) at the Kampung Sungai Serai temporary relief centre, Hulu Langat near here today.
Earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced an initial allocation of RM100 million to repair houses and infrastructure affected by the floods.
Abdul Latif also wanted district offices to facilitate and expedite the process for the RM1,000 assistance for flood victims who have fulfilled the conditions.
“Due to the floods, many people lost their documents so as to make things easier, they need to file a police report saying that they are flood victims. We at NADMA wish we could have given the payment yesterday but we don’t have data yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, until 8 am today, seven states have been affected by the floods, namely Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and a total of 64,502 victims from 14,250 families are now housed in 385 relief centres.
In Hulu Langat, Selangor from Dec 18 (Saturday) to Dec 21, a total of 2,165 victims were rescued by rescue personnel.
He also reminded the public to always be vigilant with the alerts issued by the Malaysian Meteorological Department to be more prepared if major floods recur in the near future.
