Seven Families Seek Housing Aid After Repeatedly Spending Months As Flood Evacuees Annually

PASIR MAS, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Seven families from Kampung Bendang Perol, Rantau Panjang near here have requested that the state government expedite assistance in helping them move to safer areas as they could no longer stand living in relief centres every time flooding occurred.

Flood evacuee Mek Yam Ahmad, 81, said she was growing old and could only shuffle along the ground as he was too tired to go to and fro from the centre after dealing with floods for over two decades.

"We have been told that we will be assisted in moving to another area last year but there have been no developments so far.

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"I really can’t live in a centre as I’m so old but we have no other options,” she told Bernama at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Gual To' Deh here today.

Mek Yam, who stays with her youngest child, said her home and those of her six children were located on low ground, causing them to be the first group of evacuees and the last to return home every time flooding hits the area.

She said that every year, their families would suffer losses as all their furniture and appliances would be destroyed by the floods.

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"We have built attics to store the items but after the levy construction was completed, the water level was still high till it reached the roof, so everything couldn’t be saved,” she said.

Fellow resident Kamarudin Setapa, 56, concurred with Mek Yam and shared that all electrical appliances in his home would be ruined, including a water engine, causing him to have to pay more to replace everything.

"I have no other place to go except to stay on the property my father left me. That’s why I’m asking the state government to expedite aid, and come to our homes,” he said.

The seven families with 32 members were the first group evacuated to the relief centre in PAsir Mas this morning after their area was hit by floods of at least 1.5 metres deep.

Meanwhile, checks by Bernama found several villages in low-lying areas near Sungai Golok were still flooded, including Kampung Terusan, Kampung Lanchang, Kampung Gual To'Deh and Kampung Perol.

The floods were around 0.5 metres deep and residents were making preparations, including moving their vehicles and livestock to higher ground.

-- BERNAMA