KEMAMAN – “It’s not that we do not want to move, but we are worried that our goats and ducks will be stolen.”
That was the reason given by an elderly couple – Kamsinah Tubin, 63, and Mohd Yusof Sulong, 65 – from Kg Pulau Tempurung here when asked why they have yet to evacuate to a shelter even though their house is flooded.
Kamsinah said she and her husband had already built a high loft next to their house as a temporary shelter in case their house is flooded.
“Usually my house is not affected by the floods, only the surrounding area. That is why there was no need to move. Who will look after the goats and ducks if we move,” she told reporters at her today.
Kamsinah, who started rearing livestock 20 years ago, now has morethan 50 animals under her care.
Asked about food supply and other necessities, she said she had bought the items in advance as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, Kg Pulau Tempurung Village Community Management Council chairman Mohd Azam Ismail said the refusal of some residents, especially senior citizens, to move inconvenienced the rescue team.
“At 3am today, the council and police had tried to persuade a senior citizen couple to evacuate, but they were stubborn. Suddenly at noon, we received a phone call from the couple asking for help as the wife, who has diabetes, had symptoms of hypoglycemia.
“There was also another case of an elderly couple who asked for help to take the paralysed husband to their son’s house because the route to their house was flooded this afternoon,” he said. – Bernama, December 20, 2020
