Volunteers help out in flood-hit areas of Johor

Volunteers join forces to provide food and other essential items to flood victims in Johor. Photo courtesy of Be Good Do Good and Rescue Union.

CHAAH (JOHOR), March 5 – Apart from the personnel of Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department, several humanitarian organisations and voluntary bodies have also joined forces to reach out to flood victims in Johor, where the number of victims have gone past 50,000 according to the National Disaster Management Agency as of Sunday evening.

Among the towns badly hit by floods the last few days in the district of Segamat include Chaah and Yong Peng as well as Batu Pahat in Batu Pahat district where access to some of the roads had been cut or closed due to hazards.

According to a spokesperson for Be Good Do Good Charity (BGDG) organisation, their team joined forces with Rescue Union to help distribute essential items to flood victims affected by floods in the areas of Batu Pahat and Chaah on Saturday afternoon.

“Many of the roads were closed or cut off and reaching them was a challenge. While floods in some of the parts had eased a bit by Sunday, some areas still remain flooded. All efforts are being taken to distribute items like packaged food, rice, cooking oil, small gas stove, bottled water, milk powder, packet milk, bedsheets, pillows as well as clothes and personal items like towels to the flood victims.”

Schools are being used as temporary distribution centres from to send essential items to the victims.

On Sunday morning, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who visited victims in temporary flood relief centres in Segamat, together with Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, said immediate assistance had been channeled to the victims by both the federal and state governments.

Anwar also said he took the issue of recurring floods seriously and announced that flood mitigation projects in states affected by floods will commence soon. He also said flood mitigation projects in Johor will commence by June this year.

–WE