SHAH ALAM, Dec 31 — The Operasi Bantu Hingga Selesai (Ops BAHIS) will now focus on the disinfection process to be carried out in houses and surrounding areas affected by the devastating floods of Dec 18, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
He said the disinfection exercise would be conducted tomorrow and on Sunday, as part of efforts to maintain public health to keep communicable diseases at bay.
“Apart from following the standard operating procedure (SOP) to curb the spread of COVID-19, the question of public health should also be given attention … one programme under this Ops BAHIS launched by me is disinfection.
“Earlier, we did cleaning up (at flood victims’ homes) several times, and we need to follow up with disinfecting exercise to be cleaner because I’m more worried about infections from other diseases after the flood season if we are not careful,” he added.
He was speaking to reporters after visiting and holding a brief tahlil ceremony at the house of a flood victim at Flat Andorra, near Taman Sri Muda, here today.
Annuar said Ops BAHIS also involved work to collect garbage left behind in the affected areas, with the use of heavy vehicles contributed by various parties such as Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB).
“Under this BAHIS programme, we were supposed to only adopt homes but at the request of residents we have also mobilised machinery and equipment to collect tonnes of garbage,” he said.
On donations in cash and kind, he said the aid would be distributed to victims tomorrow under the Ops BAHIS, which runs from Dec 29 to Sunday.
Annuar said 1,500 volunteers had registered for Ops BAHIS as of yesterday, comprising staff of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM), Rumah Prihatin and university students.
Ops BAHIS, which is Annuar’s brainchild, is based on the Adopted Family concept where at least five volunteers are placed at the houses of flood victims to help in cleaning up their homes and the vicinities.
The five-day operations will cover 300 houses in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam; Bukit Changgang, near Sepang; and Kampung Sungai Lui, Hulu Langat.
Ops BAHIS involves not only cleaning-up exercises but also the extension of moral support to ease the trauma of families affected by the floods.
