KUALA KRAI – For over 12 years, every time floods hit her housing area, former mee rebus seller Yah Mamat and her family will seek refuge at a bus stop in Kg Pengkalan Feri, Pasir Era here.
Yah, 55, said she had no choice but to do this each time river waters begin to rise and overflow into her house for safety reasons – her husband Mohd Sata Jaafar, 60, has a physical disability and other health problems.
“It’s not that we don’t want to go to a relief centre, but my husband is a person with disability and suffers from asthma.
“He has problems being in a crowd and in an enclosed space like at the relief centre, as he would start wheezing and have trouble breathing so we have to consider his health condition,” she said when met at Kg Pengkalan Feri, Pasir Era, here today.
Yah said she had been holding to this excuse even though relevant agencies often urged her family to seek shelter at SK Kuala Nal relief centre, which is about 5km from her house.
“I am grateful that we still get food and other necessities delivered to us though we are not with the others at the relief centre,” she said.
According to Yah, the bus stop, which has been the family’s temporary abode, is about 100m away from her house and on higher ground while her house is located on a slope quite close to the riverbank.
She said usually when the family is forced to move to their makeshift home, they would take along a bed and a settee, while her sons Mohd Fazri, 38, and Mohd Amirul, 29, who have taken over her mee rebus business, would sleep on the bus stop’s concrete bench.
They would also bring along their cooking utensils to cook simple meals and put up screens for privacy.
“The four of us will stay here until the floods subside and will go the nearby mosque to pray and use the toilet facilities,” she said. – Bernama, December 20, 2021
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