[UPDATED] PM Anwar announces various aid for Batang Kali landslide victims

KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has announced various measures to assist victims of the Batang Kali landslide incident and their kin, including RM10,000 cash aid to families of those who perished in the disaster

Similarly, the federal government will also provide RM1,000 in the form of Bantuan Wang Ihsan monetary aid to other victims of the incident, said Anwar following a visit to the site as search operations were still going on tonight.

The allocation of the aid will be provided through the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the Prime Minister’s Department, and will be disbursed by the Selangor state secretariat which is in charge of state-level disaster management. 

Of the 94 victims involved, 61 have been rescued.

A total of 94 victims were recorded to have been staying at the campsites in the gorge below the mountainous road linking the towns of Batang Kali and Gohtong Jaya when the landslide struck before dawn today.   

A total of 21 victims were confirmed dead as of 7pm. The rescue team is still working to find the 12 other missing victims, while the others have been rescued.

“For the (families) of the victims who died, we will immediately provide assistance of RM10,000 for a start, and RM1,00 for each of the other victims.

“I believe this will be coordinated by the state government, NGOs and (other) friends who help,” Anwar told reporters near the site.

It is understood that the aid will be channelled to the head of the relevant household only.

Commenting further, Anwar said, he will instruct the responsible authority to manage the aid tomorrow.

“But I agree that this matter should be coordinated by the team under the Selangor government, and the officers here can handle it better for the federal government.

“We will give priority to it tomorrow, God willing. I will leave it to the menteri besar to take care of it,” he said.

Anwar, who arrived around 9.30pm, was briefed on the search and rescue operation by the responsible enforcement agency before inspecting the situation at the scene of the incident.

Also present with him were the Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, and Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.

Meanwhile, some of those who were injured are receiving treatment at a nearby medical centre.

In the meantime, Anwar expressed his sorrow for the deceased victims of the landslide tragedy including children and their mothers.

“This is a tragedy for us and various parties and foreign leaders have expressed sympathy, including earlier the prime minister of Singapore,” he said. 

Every possible search measure taken

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who also visited the site earlier this evening asked the rescue team involved in finding the remaining victims to do everything possible and to continue searching for those not yet found.

“All agencies are continuing in any possible way with their (operations), with new technological methods and heavy machinery,” he said.

“At the same time, we are also using the services of detection dogs to locate buried bodies,” he added during a visit to the disaster area, where the fatal landslide occurred in the pre-dawn hours today at campsites in a gorge below the road.

Earlier today, Mineral and Geoscience Department director-general Hisamuddin Termidi cited the weakening of the hillslopes by underground water flow as the cause of the landslide.

Hisamuddin said that based on the department’s early observations, “homogeneous material” from the top of the higher ground had fallen after the slopes’ base gave way, following contact with water. 

Among those feared deceased or missing are teachers from SJK (C) Mun Choong here and their families that were confirmed to be among victims of the landslide at the Father’s Organic Farm campsite in Gohtong Jaya, this morning.

President of the school’s parent-teacher association, U Chin Ong, said earlier today that based on the information received so far, several teachers have been rescued by the authorities and sent to Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) for treatment. – The Vibes, December 16, 2022