School items washed away by floods

JOHOR BAHRU, Jan 2 -- Despite preparing early for her school-going children, a young mother of seven was saddened to learn that all her children's school items were washed away by the floods that hit her village yesterday.

Diana Zafini Mohamad Faruddin, 30, from Kampung Laut near Skudai, has four children in primary school, aged between eight and 12, and a child in Form Three.

"I'm so sad...all the children's school items like shoes and uniforms are gone.

"I pity my children..that's all that we had, we can't afford to buy new ones," the housewife told Bernama when met at a relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Batu 10 here today.

Diana Zafini, however, thanked the state government and the agencies involved for providing a comfortable and safe temporary shelter for her children, especially her youngest who is five months old.

Meanwhile, Diana Zafini’s mother-in-law Marmiah Tompok, 63, said the floods this time are the worst so far.

"Within this month, my house has been flooded for several times. All our belongings could not be saved,” she said. 

Kampung Laut is one of the areas severely affected by the floods in this city. As at 8 pm, the floods in Johor have affected 1,780 people from five districts.

-- BERNAMA