by RADZI RAZAK
PRIME Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the Cabinet had agreed to mobilise government machinery to help with post-flood cleanup in Johor.
In a press conference today, Anwar also pleaded to NGOs as well as volunteers to help with the effort to ease the burdens of tens of thousands flood victims and the state government.
“I want to call on friends from NGOs, universities, (and) volunteers to come down quickly to help friends and family because their burden is too great to operate machinery in Johor,” he said after the Cabinet meeting at Putrajaya today.
Anwar also announced 16,167 heads of household that were affected by the flood in the state had also been given “wang ihsan” (courtesy money) of RM1,000 each.
“There is an additional allocation of RM150 million from the Finance Ministry that has been expedited and (Deputy PM) Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has come down to identify several projects with the Johor Mentri Besar and state government,” he said.
The Johor flood, which affected several areas in the Tangkak, Segamat, Muar and Batu Pahat districts, started earlier this month, killing four and displacing more than 40,000.
The Irrigation and Drainage Department DG Dr Md Nasir Md Noh noted the reading prior to the flood was higher than the average monthly rainfall for March in Johor at 195mm.
“The high rainfall caused all districts in Johor to become flooded involving 105 locations as of Friday while the depth of flooding for the affected areas ranged from one to 3m,” he said in a statement dated March 5.