By Zareef Muzammil
BALING, July 22 — Students affected by the floods here are in need of new school supplies, especially textbooks to replace their belongings which were swept away by the floods earlier this month.
State executive councillor for housing Rodziah Ismail said many parents complained their children had not received such assistance and were worried that the students would miss out on their studies.
“We met many parents who complained their children have not received the (replacement) textbooks. I hope the parties involved would speed up their assistance.
“The floods have affected many people, yet even though mattresses and cooking utensils are important during this time, we cannot neglect the children’s education,” she said.
She was speaking at the Misi Selangor Penyayang (MSP) 2.0 relief mission’s handover ceremony to 163 flood-affected residents at Surau An-Nur Taman Mesra Kupang in Baling, Kedah, here yesterday.
Each victim received RM100 in cash donations, along with mattresses, blankets and children’s necessities, which were presented by state executive councillor for rural development Borhan Aman Shah.
Meanwhile, Rodziah said the aid was to help alleviate the burden of the victims who lost many personal belongings as a result of the incident.
“Although it is not much, we hope it can help the victims during this unexpected disaster.
“Insya Allah (God willing), we will continue the MSP initiative to help victims elsewhere, but hopefully there will be no more great disasters in this country,” she added.
MSP 2.0 saw 150 members of the Special Action Squad (Pantas) from Selangor’s 12 local authorities participate, alongside members of Selangor Volunteers and Team Selangor.
On July 6, MSP 1.0 saw 262 local authority members and volunteers head to Baling to aid in cleaning up dozens of flood victims’ homes, with some 90 tonnes of bulk rubbish removed from the area.
Continuous heavy rain for almost three hours in Baling on July 4 resulted in Sungai Kupang’s water level overflowing into the homes of nearby residents.
Three members of a family, including a pregnant woman, perished after being swept away by the currents.
