Families of landslide victims receive RM80,000 in donations

 

Sixty-one people were rescued and 31 others, comprising 18 adults and 13 children, died in the Batang Kali landslide on Dec 16.

ALOR GAJAH: The government today handed over donations totalling RM80,000 to families of eight victims who died in the Batang Kali landslide in Selangor today.

The donations, to two families, were presented by the prime minister’s senior political secretary Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin in Kampung Machap Baru here.

One of the recipients was Lai Hua Kiong, 54, who lost four members of his family in the tragedy.

They were his son, Lai Chee Sam, 33, daughter-in-law Lai See Tin, 33, and two grandchildren, six-year-old Giselle Lai and two-year-old Jonas Lai.

The other recipient is Tai Seng Fui, 63, who also lost four family members — son Tai Chang Lin, 35, daughter-in-law Yu Siew Pay, 34, and two grandchildren, seven-year-old Tai Jing Key and four-year-old Tai Jing Rou.

Shamsul said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the government hoped the donation would help ease the burden of the families concerned.

“The prime minister also conveyed his utmost gratitude to the entire search and rescue (SAR) team for working tirelessly until yesterday in the search for the victims and this certainly demands a high level of commitment.

“We value their efforts and hope they can be an example to other agencies to be able to work as a team and strive to provide the best service to the people,” he told reporters.

Also present were state unity, information, human resources and consumer affairs committee chairman Ngwe Hee Sem and National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) deputy director-general Khairul Shahril Idrus.

Khairul said the donation would be given depending on the willingness of the next of kin of the victims to accept it as some family members are still in grief over the incident.

He said the Social Security Organisation (Socso) would also make payments to the next of kin of the victims, taking into account the needs of those involved.

The tragedy, which occurred on Dec 16, involved 92 people. Sixty-one people were rescued and 31 others, comprising 18 adults and 13 children, were killed. - FMT