PASIR MAS – The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has applied for an allocation of RM33 million to purchase essential items in preparation for the second wave of floods.
Deputy Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff said the application was made to the Finance Ministry as supply at its storage depots as well as forwarding bases is running low.
She said the decision was made in a virtual special flood coordination meeting that she chaired yesterday morning.
She said the allocation would be used to buy supplies for flood victims such as blankets, mats, dry food, and disposable diapers.
“The goods will be stored at forwarding bases in high-risk states including Sabah and Sarawak,” she added.
She told this to reporters after visiting flood-hit areas in Kg Tersang and Lanchang in Rantau Panjang here yesterday.
Siti Zailah, who is also Rantau Panjang MP, said the ministry had to send items from Kelantan to assist flood victims in Pahang, and from Kedah to victims in Selangor as both states had run out of supplies.
Meanwhile, Siti Zailah said, the Social Welfare Department is facing a manpower shortage as many of them also fell victim to the flooding.
“Currently we have limited staff. For example, in Temerloh, Pahang, we have 88 temporary relief centres but there are only 37 staff, some of whom were also affected by floods, while in Selangor we have 47 personnel but only 15 can work. Due to this, we need help from other agencies as well as from volunteers,” she added. – Bernama, December 28, 2021
