By Zareef Muzammil
LABIS, March 9 — The second phase of the Selangor post-flood relief mission in Labis, Johor, focuses on cleaning bulk waste in nine areas severely impacted by the recent floods.
State executive councillor for human capital development Mohd Khairuddin Othman said that as the district recovers from the flooding, bulk waste, such as furniture, mattresses, old tyres and wardrobes, needs to be cleaned up right away.
“This time, the cleanup mission is to remove as many bulk items as possible from public parks and spaces that have not been picked up in days.
“Now that the floodwaters have begun to recede, the focus needs to be placed on the bulk waste even though we know that much of it will be removed in the aftermath of the flood,” he said when met after the briefing session with the Bantuan Kita Selangor Penyayang team the Labis District Council (MDL) disaster operations centre here, yesterday.
Also present were State Disaster Management Unit (Management Services) Divisional secretary Muhammad Hanafi Ahmad and MDL president Herman Raban.
Meanwhile, Mohd Khairuddin said that the relief team is prepared to help with cleaning up the flood victims’ homes based on the needs.
“We are here for three days to clean the public areas but if there is a request (to clean private homes), we will send members of Selangor Volunteers (Serve) and Team Selangor,” he said.
In addition, Khairuddin had not ruled out the possibility of encountering challenges during the three days of the post-flood aid mission, particularly in getting the cooperation of the local residents.
“Besides the roads being cut off, I foresee other big challenges we may face with the local residents (in getting their cooperation). Some people are not comfortable with us poking around in their neighbourhood.
“Based on the experience of managing flood clean-up activities in Hulu Langat in December 2021, that is one of the challenges,” he added.
A total of 291 personnel from various Selangor agencies were mobilised to help with the cleanup efforts in nine flood-hit locations in nine locations in the district, which include Kampung Jawa Baru Chaah, Kampung Kangkar 1 and 2, Taman Damai Jaya 2, Taman Sri Chaah and Taman Orkid.
Meanwhile, MDL expressed its appreciation for the Selangor government’s commitment to sending a relief team to speed up the cleaning up of bulk waste in the flood-hit locations.
Herman said that the local council had faced a lack of manpower and machinery, which delayed the post-flood cleanup process.
“We are thankful that the Selangor government, the local authorities and the other agencies worked together to aid flood victims in the district.
“Previously, the cleanup process of bulk waste moved quite slowly, but with the help that arrived it had sped up the operations. We don’t want another epidemic to spread due to uncollected waste,” he said when met.
On March 4, the first phase of Bantuan Kita Selangor Penyayang was mobilised to dispatch basic necessities to the Disaster Needs Storage Depot (South Zone), Muar, to ease the distribution of aid to the flood victims.
The state government had disbursed 1,000 food items and 1,000 hygiene kits were handed over, including 418 food baskets, 200 five-kilogram rice packs, adult and children’s disposable diapers, slippers, adult and children’s clothing, and mineral water.
