All hands on deck for relief efforts

BENTONG: Cabinet ministers who are currently on leave and planning to go on holiday have been instructed to cancel their plans until the flood woes currently plaguing the country are resolved.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all ministers currently abroad have also been ordered to return home immediately, Bernama reported.

“I have been deluged with questions about our Cabinet ministers.

“So, if they are on leave and are planning to go on holiday, I want them to cancel that plan,” Ismail Sabri said.

“If they are currently abroad, return immediately!” he told a press conference after visiting flood evacuees at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Piatu here yesterday.

Ismail Sabri said he had to postpone his working trip to Bangkok, slated for Dec 28, 29 and 30, to give attention to the flood woes faced by the people right now.

Offering support: Ismail Sabri (centre) speaking to a wheelchair-bound flood victim at a PPS at SJK(C) Mentakab — Bernama

“Members of the security forces have also been asked to focus on helping the people in cleaning their houses once they were allowed to return home,” he said.

Earlier in the morning, in Mentakab, the Prime Minister visited flood victims at a relief centre (PPS) at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina SJK(C) Mentakab.

After talking to some of the victims at the PPS at SJK(C) Mentakab, Ismail Sabri left for another PPS, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Karak Setia.

Some of the flood victims at SJK(C) Mentakab said the Prime Minister had asked about their welfare and expressed his sympathy for the hardship faced by them due to the flood disaster.

Winda Kaban, 39, said Ismail Sabri also requested that medical officers attend to her husband, Rozali Muhammad Sharif, 53, who became paralysed following a stroke six months ago.

“My husband could not walk and the PM called a doctor to come to our tent to check his (husband) condition,” she said.

Winda added that her house in Kampung Tanjung Kerayong, Mentakab, was in two-feet high flood water when she decided to evacuate her house and made her way to the PPS.

“I was advised by the police to evacuate due to my husband’s condition, which would make the rescue process difficult if I were to wait for the flood water to rise higher,” she added.

Another victim, Hazlina Ariffin, 53, said she and her mother, Robiatun Kassim, 82, who is wheel-chair bound, evacuated to the Mentakab Fire and Rescue Department quarters last Monday and were then brought to the PPS the following day.

Meanwhile, a survey by Bernama around Temerloh town found that the situation was improving with several main roads already opened for motorists, although parts of Mentakab town were still flooded.