INTERACTIVE: How Malaysians mobilised online to aid flood victims

PETALING JAYA: In the span of just six days, nearly 150,000 social media users took their own initiative to organise and deliver much-needed help to victims of one of Malaysia’s worst floods.

As news reports about the floods emerged on Friday (Dec 17), many turned to platforms such as Twitter to reach out and connect to other volunteers seeking to help ease the plight of those trapped in their homes or seeking shelter at relief centres.

Some volunteers organised the rescue of flood victims using their own four-wheel drive vehicles, lorries or boats, while others delivered food and other needed items.

These are among the findings of an analysis by The Star from Dec 18-23, which recorded 1.5mil online conversations on flood aid by social media users in Malaysia.

The analysis was done using a social media listening software that employs a keyword tracker to record mentions of terms such as "flood relief”, “flood donations” and “volunteers”.

The searches generated 1,500,530 posts (including retweets or shares) from 139,587 unique authors which contained the keywords from Dec 18, with a significant peak of 41,245 posts on the topic recorded at 11pm on Dec 19.

Due to the wide variety of social media platforms - not all of which are easily searchable - the actual number of social media users who helped organise aid during the floods is likely higher.

The analysis found that the hashtag #DaruratBanjir was mentioned in more than a million tweets to circulate information regarding the flood, making it the most popular.

Many social media users widely shared information about flood victims and alerted NGOs and groups offering aid about individuals and families in need of help.

Others, such as Twitter user @YoBoiRiri compiled details of groups offering assistance.

#DaruratBanjir This is Satish from Taman Karak Indah. We called him after watching this video to ask him for updates. He said that around 500 people in the community are badly affected. They've not been receiving much help and they're struggling to cope. pic.twitter.com/wLRa6N14BB — Shobana (she/her) (@Shobana257) December 23, 2021

Kampung Vedivelu in Dengkil needs some assistance, so far, only 1 small team went in and according to the folks there, no one else came.

For volunteers that wants to help out this #DaruratBanjir .. time to divert your focus to the other locations that need just as much love. pic.twitter.com/0fQCY0sTYw — Michael Yip (@mikeyipdotcom) December 24, 2021

Useful tips were shared online. They included how to share one’s house coordinates to rescuers, what to do when stranded due to floods, how to perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), tips to remove flood water from homes and how to claim for car insurance due to flood damage.

Ini bebenang cara hadapi banjir (sebelum, semasa dan selepas) yang dikongsi oleh rakyat twitter. Tengok banyak lalu kat timeline tapi nanti kalau tak buat bebenang susah nak cari:’)

— Maryam's (@Maryam_512) December 20, 2021

Among the volunteers, businessman Mustakim Ismail and his friend Ahmad Faiz Fikri, 24, were among the first to help people stranded because of the floods.

“On Saturday (Dec 18), I saw Twitter flooded with posts about people who were stuck on roads for hours, especially with children.

“I could not bear to know about their situation and just do nothing, and since I had a four-wheel drive, I decided to go to some of the locations,” said the 30-year-old.

Mustakim said he shared on the social media platform that he was going out to help those in need.

“I started receiving a lot of direct messages from people who were stranded, and I reached out to those I could, to get their locations and latest updates,” he said.

“On the same night, I went to the Tengku Ampuan Jemaah mosque in Bukit Jelutong, Selangor, where flood victims sought shelter.

“To my surprise, there were a lot of people there, including children,” he said, adding that he had posted on Twitter to let others know how they can help.

The post quickly garnered traction, receiving 2,631 retweets and 1,200 likes.

Dear All Resident Bukit Jelutong. There are quite no of people stranded and at the moment manage to get shelting at MTAJ Mosque.For those who has unused pillow, old or unsed blanket or old clothes which can help and ease them may send to or kain pelikat please do so. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/8ft6D3aoi8

— mustakim ismail (@mustakim_ismail) December 18, 2021

His team, along with other volunteers he made acquaintance with, have continued to deliver aid to flood victims, mostly at their homes across the Klang Valley and Pahang.

Mustakim said he still receives a lot of direct messages on Twitter from people who wanted to donate for flood victims.

“I only accept donations from people I know or mutual friends because it is a big responsibility - managing people’s money - but I will continue to help those affected by floods the best I can,” he said.

Since Dec 15, the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) has posted more than 50 alerts on its Facebook page warning of thunderstorms, heavy and continuous rain in several states. The following are some of the notices issued:

Shortly after the waters rose on Friday, many volunteers quickly swung into action to lend a helping hand:

Klang is heavily flooded at the moment. If you need any sort of help, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We will be sending flood relief teams over to help out. Do Dm me or let me know if your area is affected. pic.twitter.com/rMnMCRTDIU

— (@OfficialJoannaJ) December 17, 2021

On Sunday (Dec 19), restaurant owner Muhammad Adib Mohd Khairi opened his shop to give free food to flood victims at Kampung Melayu Subang in Selangor.

He shared to the community’s WhatsApp group and on Twitter to reach those in the area who were in need.

“Luckily, my shop was not affected by the floods but the majority of those in the vicinity were, so I decided to help them by distributing free food from my shop,” he said.

He said, at the time, help could not reach the area as roads were blocked and electricity was out, so most of the shops in the area were closed.

“The people were having trouble getting access to food, so it was the least I could do considering I still had food supplies from the restaurant,” he said.

The following graphic, sourced from https://earth.nullschool.net/ based on data from agencies including the US National Weather Service, shows snapshots of wind direction and 3-hour precipitation accumulation over Malaysia and neighbouring countries from Thursday (Dec. 16) to Monday (Dec.20):

As at Dec 23, a total of 68,341 flood victims are seeking shelter a 396 temporary relief centres nationwide.

On Thursday (Dec 23) MetMalaysia issued an alert warning of the possibility of a monsoon surge from Dec 27 to 30, which could cause continuous rain in eastern Johor, eastern Sabah and western Sarawak between Dec 28 to 30.

Many social media users are already bracing for the possibility of more floods, with some mobilising volunteers to prepare.

The floods affected many, but it also revealed that there is no shortage of selfless people eager to do whatever they can to help others.