MERSING, Jan 28 — The government has no intention of declaring a flood emergency for now, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is the Central Disaster Management Committee chairman, said this was because only several states and certain districts were currently affected by floods.
“I don’t think a flood emergency should be declared because it only involves certain states and districts. The state disaster management committees (SDMC) have taken proactive measures together with the district disaster management committees.
“The aid provided has been given to all the heads of families and, at the same time, we have other matters that need to be carried out, including post-flood assistance,” he told a media conference after visiting the Mersing Polytechnic temporary relief centre, here, today.
Also present were Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi and Johor State Secretary Tan Sri Dr Azmi Rohani.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, admitted that post-flood management would be more challenging, especially in the distribution of assistance and recovery process.
However, he said the government, through various agencies including the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), would always mobilise energy and improve management as well as efforts to assist all the victims.
Meanwhile, the Bagan Datuk Member of Parliament said the government had approved an immediate allocation of RM10.5 million in Mersing to build a pump house and install three water pumps.
“Mersing is in dire need of a pump house as a short-term measure to prevent flooding. As such, I immediately approved an allocation of RM10.5 million for the project, with each costing RM3.5 million. It will be channelled through the existing allocation from Nadma.
“I will coordinate this matter with the Johor Menteri Besar, Johor State Secretary, Mersing District Officer (Mohammed Shakib Ali) and Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) senior engineer (Md Shahril Md Shamsudin) as well as other implementing agencies,” he said.
Overall, he said the state government informed that Mersing required a total of RM2.3 billion to overcome flood issues through long-term plans.
“However, they have (for now, only) applied for an allocation of about RM50 million to be channelled to the state government and districts through the DID for medium-term flood mitigation projects in low-lying areas in the district.
“I will sort this out with the Nadma director-general (Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus) personally, definitely through the allocation from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid also visited the centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Mersing.
He was also given a briefing on the flood situation in the district, including mitigation plans like the ones at the Sungai Mersing and Sungai Tenglu Besar basins, by DID’s Md Shahril.
So far, only three states have been hit by floods, with Sabah recording the highest number of evacuees totalling 2,639 people, followed by Johor (2,464 victims) and Pahang (314 people).
