PETALING JAYA: Volunteers at ground zero in Hat Yai, Thailand, are appealing for help from the Malaysian government as they struggle with limited resources to evacuate large numbers of fellow Malaysians trapped by floods.
“Urgent request from ground zero: there is a dire need for more manpower to bring people out from their hotels,” United Sikhs Malaysia president Sunil Shukvir Singh told The Star from Hat Yai.
“We need boats, big trucks, high-level trucks and 14-wheeler trucks so we can reach areas with waist-deep water,” he said.
United Sikhs was among the first non-government organisations (NGO) to carry out evacuation efforts in Hat Yai since Sunday.
Sunil also said support in terms of machinery is needed.
“We need help from the Malaysian government or any NGOs that can help us,” he said.
“Please bring your trucks and manpower. Many people are suffering in hotels because food supply has been cut off,” added Sunil.
He said food supply had been badly disrupted as waters have risen to very high levels, adding that only a few hotels are still able to provide food.
“When I say very high, it means the lobby is not accessible anymore. That means the hotel is totally cut off from any rescue work. We have to bring them out now,” he said.
Sunil added that water levels had subsided in some areas, but machinery and manpower were urgently needed to aid evacuation efforts.
He stated that an estimated 2,000 Malaysians remain stranded at multiple hotels.
On Tuesday, volunteers rescued 600 people, mostly Malaysians.
Sungai Petani Volunteer Fire Brigade chairman Leong Beng Tat made an emotional live broadcast on Tuesday.
He urged the Malaysian government to activate official rescue efforts and appealed to the government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to strengthen cross-border coordination to speed up rescues.
The group evacuated more than 300 people on Tuesday.
Malaysian A. Chandra Mohan, who has been stranded at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai for four days, said water levels reached the second floor, adding that about 60 Malaysians are stranded there.
With no food and electricity, he said those stranded are surviving on porridge made with only rice, water and salt courtesy of the hotel, cooked using portable stoves.
Hotel staff, some of whom have lost homes in the floods, have been doing their best to feed their guests, said Chandra.
“Some residents have been kind enough to pass some food through windows,” he told The Star.
“We have been boiling water from the swimming pool for our use,” he said.
Chandra, who travelled to Hat Yai from Malaysia with his family for a holiday, reported that floods had submerged his car.
“My humble appeal to the Malaysian government is to help us transport our cars back home,” he said, adding that help might be needed in terms of documentation.
Another victim claimed on social media that an eight-month-old baby was stranded without milk and diapers.
