Flood relief: Many volunteers, little coordination

 

Since the flooding began in various parts of the country this weekend, volunteers have been making a beeline for various disaster zones, but are hampered by a lack of coordination.

According to the MCA's crisis relief squad (CSRM) Johor leader Ling Tian Soon, this made it difficult to avoid duplication in rescue work.

"The site is actually very chaotic and there is a lack of communication. We really need the authorities to coordinate the rescue task on the ground so that there's no repetitive work among the rescue teams and in a more organised fashion," Ling said during a press conference today.

He said his team of 16 CSRM members from Johor arrived at Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam at 8am yesterday.

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Ling is also MCA organising secretary and Johor MCA Youth chief. 

The only information they had to work on was what the locals told them. With that information, they went door-to-door to see if evacuation was necessary and distribute food.

Different set of challenges

The chaotic relief effort was described by numerous flood victims when they were finally able to escape floodwaters yesterday after spending two days trapped.

Ling said floodwaters were around knee level today, down from around neck level when they arrived yesterday.

However, shallower waters posed a different set of challenges.

"Due to the water level, we might hit debris or road shoulders that can damage our boat. We have to move very slowly," he said.

He added that despite the problems, his team had helped evacuate about 180 people from 60 families.

Ling also said another 15 CRSM members would be heading to Bentong, Pahang, today to assist flood victims.

CSRM has managed to raise RM44,941.16 for relief efforts since the flooding began over the weekend. - Mkini