Disease hits as Malaysian second floods displace 90,000

[starfortress]

Sunday January 14, 3:31 PM

Disease hits as Malaysian floods displace 90,000

KLUANG, Malaysia (AFP) - A second wave of flooding in Malaysia's south has forced more than 90,000 people to flee their homes and caused two deaths from water-borne disease, officials and reports have said.

The number of people evacuated in Johor state, which borders Singapore, has soared to 92,511, the state Bernama news agency said. This is higher than for the first round of flooding, which hit last month and left 18 dead.

Torrential rains that have battered the region for the past four days show no sign of letting up, and some 355 relief centres have been set up on higher ground to shelter the huge number of displaced people.

Health ministry secretary-general Ismail Merican said flood victims now faced the risk of disease, particularly leptospirosis, which is spread through rat, dog and cattle urine.

The New Straits Times quoted Abdul Ghani Othman, Johor's chief minister, as saying that two flood evacuees had already died of leptospirosis.

"In flood situations things get out of control, especially when it comes to water cleanliness," Ismail told AFP.

To avert a health crisis, the government was mobilising teams from across the country to establish medical units at all the relief centres, he said.

"We are ready to offer not only medical aid but anything else that we can do to help the victims and alleviate their suffering."

Thousands of people were already sheltering in flood evacuation centres in Johor after the first round of flooding, which hit late December and forced 90,000 to evacuate their homes at the peak of the crisis.

Since then, rains have hit the country's north and its eastern states on Borneo island.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said late Friday that the government had not ruled out declaring a state of emergency in Johor if the floods worsened, and that the government would closely monitor and evaluate the situation.

"The government has prepared an operation manual that is to be activated in the event of a natural disaster. This is a plan that has been worked out and is often used," he said, according to Bernama.
Source

Latest news at 2300HRS on Sunday,January 14 - already 103,944 peoples from 25,579 family members were evacuated to the temporary shelters.All 8 Johor provinces are floods by water after a heavy rains that have battered the region past four days show no sign of letting up.But there isn't any plan yet from government to announce a State of Emergency.

[north_malaysian]

104,000 AND RISING

JOHOR BARU: The flood situation in Johor is worsening. More than 104,000 people have been evacuated to 335 relief centres statewide by yesterday.

Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Bandar Tenggara remain cut off and water levels in Kota Tinggi are expeced to continue rising.

Thirty-six main roads have been closed.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and others in a convoy of seven cars are trapped in floodwaters in Kluang for half an hour.

However, help is pouring into the state following the second wave of floods.

* Police to mobilise an additional 1,500 personnel for search-and-rescue operations and crime prevention.
* Medical teams placed at every relief centre.
* 29 marine boats sent to affected areas.
* Enough medicine to last up to six month.
* National service trainees assisting at relief centres.

Source: The Star, 15.01.2007, Front Page.

[north_malaysian]

NUMBER OF EVACUEES UP IN SABAH AND PAHANG

KOTA KINABALU: The number of flood evacuees increased to 3,642 in six Sabah districts as Royal Malaysian Air Force Nuri helicopters flew in food supplies to villages cut off by floods.

The helicopters, based in Labuan and Tawau, flew in rations to three villages in Beluran and Pitas. Residents in Kota Marudu's Kampung Gana whose access road was cut off for about a week also received food supplies.

The flood victims were all being put up in 40 relief centres while the number of evacuees had increased by about 600.

The evacuees wre from 30 villages in Kota Marudu, Beaufort (39), Pitas (21), Tenom (20), Beluran (4), Telupid (one) and two in the Paitan sub-district, a spokesman for state-level Natural Disaster Relief Committee said.

The spokesman said major rivers bursting their banks in the respective districts caused floods over the last 72 hours.

The floods had claimed the life of a 59-year-old farmer in Tenom who drowned while crossing a river in his bid to get to an evacuation centre on Friday. Last week a 17-year-old schoolboy drowned in Beaufort.

In Rompin (Pahang), the number of evacuees in the district rose to 1,555 yesterday afternoon and more are expected at evacuation centres.

According to personnel manning the state disaster control centre at the Pahang police headquarters, the frequency of reporting the number of flood victims and those evacuated was increased to hourly instead of two-hour intervals following the increasing number of SOS calls.

The evacuees from 10 villages had been placed in 11 relief centres and evacuation teams were still busy registering and moving victims to higher ground.

Source: The Star, 15.01.2007, page N10


Evacuees as at 15.01.2007

State of Johor: 140,000 +
State of Sabah: 3,642 +
State of Pahang: 1,555 +

[north_malaysian]

IN AND OUT RELIEF CENTRES

SCHOOL HALL SECOND HOME FOR MANY

JOHOR BARU: For hundreds of residents at Kampung Laut in Skudai, flood relief centres have become their second homes. They have been evacuated to the centres four times in just four weeks.

Norreha Azahar, 43, said she, her husband and their seven children had been "moving in and out" of the SJK (Chinese) Pu Sze hall in Skudai since Dec 17.

She said that the first time the floods hit their village, it receded within 24 hours but they had to return to the centre due to heavy flooding on Dec 19. Two days later, they returned to clean their homes but on Dec 26, the village was submerged again.

"This time the water subsided within two days but on Jan 11, we were again hit by floods," Norreha said, adding that everything in her house had been washed away.

"I have six school-going children. All their books are gone. My electrical items are also destroyed. What am I going to do now?" she said, adding that they are too poor to move out as her husband was just a lorry driver.

Norreha said she had never experienced such flooding since moving to the village 20 years ago and described the floods as "monster floods."

Another resident Maria Anak Lidis, 26, complained that all her appliances bought on credit, were destroyed.

"We will still have to continue paying for them," said the mother of four who urged the government to speed up the distribution aid.

Another resident, M. Sukumaran, 44, said the Government had promised them low-cost homes in 2001 but until today, they had yet to be resettled.

Gardener Rozzeli Jaafar said the only items he managed to save were his children's schoolbooks.

Rozzeli, who has five children, said the second wave of floods destroyed everything he had salvaged from the first wave.

Gelang Patah MP Tan Ah Heng said 2,132 people were being housed at the school hall.

Source: The Star, 15.01.2007, page N10.

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[Naheezah]

subhanallah! dnt worry my dear fellow malaysians pals u r all in my duahz.
all dear bros n sis in islam do rememba our malaysian bro n sis in our du3ahs.

[Mawaddah]

:sl:

Ya Allah! :eek: It's so bad already! I haven't read the news for so long and didn't realize it's getting to such a bad state :cry:

[north_malaysian]

JOHOR BARU: A spokesman from the state police flood operations room here said the flood situation in most districts was improving with 172 flood relief centres closed.

The number of people still sheltered in 254 evacuation centres statewide yesterday afternoon had gone down to 87,477 from over 104,000 earlier.

Source: New Straits Times, 17.01.07, page 4