Right data needed to give aid to flood victims, says NGO

 

Khairil Annuar Khalid said there was no data on shelters created by the government and ungazetted shelters like ‘suraus’ that are used to house flood victims.

PETALING JAYA: Data on flood victims is crucial in ensuring that the right kind of aid is delivered to them, says the leader of an NGO that has been helping the flood victims in Klang Valley.

Speaking at an online forum organised by Sinar Harian today, Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) vice-president Khairil Annuar Khalid said field data on the flood crisis was needed to know what aid to give to victims, according to the severity of the floods in their respective areas.

“Without such data, we might be giving the wrong aid. For example, we might give food like rice and sugar to victims in the worst-hit areas who have no way to cook or make drinks.

“The problem is: we do not have such data at all. We do not even have data on gazetted flood shelters – like the ones created by the government and the ungazetted shelters, where places like “suraus” become shelters,” said Khairil.

During the forum, he also criticised the lack of preparedness among the relevant authorities and agencies in the Klang Valley when the region was hit by the floods last weekend.

“They (authorities and agencies) have no idea what to do because Klang Valley has never experienced a flood like this.

“There was no coordination between the federal and state governments, as well as inter-district coordination.”

His organisation, on the other hand, was prepared as early as two weeks ago for this crisis, he said.

Public health expert Dr Adlina Suleiman said Malaysians, especially those who live in the Klang Valley, lacked the community resilience needed to face natural disasters.

“The people of Kelantan are resilient and prepared for floods. They know what to do and where to go.

“We need to teach our community what to do whenever floods happen,” she said.

Since the floods happened during the Covid-19 pandemic, Adlina stressed the importance of maintaining personal hygiene among victims to reduce the risk of infection.

“We should transform some of our flood shelters into quarantine centres – or else we could be facing flood clusters.

“Apart from Covid-19, we should be wary of leptospirosis, as well as dengue.” - FMT