Tonnes of flood debris to be cleared from 10 Kelantan districts

KOTA BARU: The thousands of tonnes of waste and debris from the recent flood that affected 10 of 11 districts in Kelantan will be cleared by the end of the month.

The authorities in the state are working hard to reach the target with the help of local councils from other states.

State Local Government, Health, Housing and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Fattah Mahmood said so far almost 100,000 tonnes of flood debris and mud had been cleared.

Kota Baru, he said, topped the areas with the most debris collected with over 40,300 tonnes already cleared.

The waste and debris collected, he said, had been sent to a temporary landfill in Sabak.

He said workers have also completed cleaning up Pasir Mas and Tanah Merah districts.

“Between Jan 4 when the clean-up works started until last week, 1,558 tonnes have been collected in Pasir Mas and 23,302 tonnes from Tanah Merah,” he said yesterday.

He thanked local councils from outside the state which had sent hundreds of workers to help in the clean-up.

“Without their help, it would have taken much longer for the towns to return to normal,” he added.

Kelantan was the worst hit during the recent floods, which also hit several other states including Te­­rengganu, Pahang and Perak.

Almost 200,000 people in Kelan­tan were displaced during the flood, the worst in the country in recent memory.

The state and federal governments have formed a joint post-flood recovery/operations committee, jointly-chaired by Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob and International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad to solve the many problems caused by the flood that destroyed more than 2,500 homes in Gua Musang, Kuala Krai and Tanah Merah districts.