According to 'The Star Online’ reporting on 16th December, more than 9,000 people in Johor were forced to evacuate to 93 temporary evacuation centres across the state after their homes were flooded. The district of Kluang had the highest number of evacuees with 2,666 people from 747 families. Now flooding is not new to Malaysia, and some regions experience flooding on a yearly basis. But this year, the continuous monsoon rains combined with especially high tides, and possibly some construction projects with insufficient water management schemes, all led to flash floods affecting people unfamiliar with what to do. While the Malaysian Government does have systems in place to help these affected people, the scale of the disaster this month has required many other agencies to get involved, and here is when the National Committee for Community Services of the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) comes into action.
Today, I accompanied the MRC to Layang-Layang which is north of Johor Bahru, and half way between Skudai and Kluang. Our prime goal was to deliver essentials and determine what other help was needed. As reported previously (After the floods), there are designated evacuation centres all around Johor, mostly in schools, and here the evacuees are provided with small tents and provisions until safe to return home. Most will stay for just a couple of days, but the severity of the flooding this year means a longer stay for many.
Back in the operations centre in Johor Bahru, stocks of sarongs, towels, diapers, sanitary pads, and floor mats had already been prepared, ready to be distributed once the inevitable floods occurred. And new bags were now filled with goodies generously provided by Nestle and 7-Eleven. Then the two vehicles were loaded up and we were off!
Once at Layang-Layang, the MRC got straight to work to assess the situation and unload the vehicles.
The school we were at today housed the Muslim evacuees. And since it was a religious school, all the signage was in Jawi script. This was quite a challenge when it came to finding the ladies toilets!
I spoke to one of the community leaders here, Mr. Abdul Razak (shown right), who was responsible for the nearby evacuation centre (school) housing Chinese and Indian evacuees. He said that it was nine years since the last flood here, so people had been caught unprepared. Top of his wish list for the people here were food and clothes. This is where sarongs are so flexible in emergency situations as they can be worn by both men and women.
Today I saw in action ‘Operation Caring Heart’ which was the name given for this MRC mission coming down from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to Johor to help the flood victims. Nine volunteers and staff from the MRC headquarters in KL were providing practical support with a 3-ton truck loaded with relief items, a rescue boat and a reconnaissance boat. Mohammad Faodzi B. Mat Nawi (shown right) coordinated the RDRT (Regional Disaster Relief Team), the RDS (Regional Deployment Squad), and the RADCOM (Radio Communications).
In addition, we had the Puchong alligator team… four people, each with a 4WD vehicle, whose passion is to help those in need. They have expertiese in field work using their experience as engineers, contractors, and ex-military personnel. When disasters strike, they can find themselves in any part of the world, so we were lucky to have them here in Johor.
All these wonderful people are part of the MRC family.
As it got close to 11 am, everyone started preparing for the arrival of the Prince (Y.A.M. Tunku Idris Iskandar Alhaj ibni Sultan Ibrahim, Tunku Temenggong Johor) who is the Chairman of the National Committee for Community Services, Malaysian Red Crescent. The occassion started with prayers, then the Prince went inside the school to present the evacuees with bags of relief goods and to chat with everyone. When he had finished, everyone wanted to take his photo and to be in a photo with him. The photo below shows the Prince flanked by members of the RDS Rescue Team.
The evacuees in Layang-Layang were not the only people helped by the MRC today. We also dropped off boxes of diapers and sanitary pads at a smaller evacuation centre in Kampung Sungai Siam, and one of our vehicles was already on its way to Kluang while we returned to Johor Bahru.
Just to give you an idea of the scale of the flooding, here are some arial photos taken on 16th December from a Fire Services helicopter (provided by Dato Yahaya Pengarah Bomba, Director of Fire Services). This is the region of Mawai, northeast of Kota Tinggi. Sadly the situation here is not improving, while other regions are fairing better.
Further towards the northeast coast of Johor, there are Orang Asli settlements in the Mersing to Tanah Abang area who are completely cut off, so they are now only accessible by boat. The Malaysian Red Crescent (who provided these photos) sent them provisions.
Clearly, all these activities of the MRC need funding and they need your help. So, the Malaysian Red Crescent is currently appealing for donations of cash or kind. They are not looking for old used clothes, as they are not a dumping ground for items you want to discard. What they are hoping for are any items on the following list which have real immediate value to people who have had to leave their homes in a hurry:
1. Biscuits
2. Diapers
3. Sanitary pads
4. Milo
5. Coffee
6. Tea
7. Instant noodles in cups preferably
8. CASH DONATIONS
These items are URGENTLY needed and you can call 019-7555600 for details.
Click here to see more about the activities of the Malaysian Red Crescent.
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