AFP Yahoo News 1 Jan 15;
At least 21 people have been killed and eight others are missing after the worst flooding in decades across Malaysia's northeast, police said Wednesday, with almost a quarter of a million people displaced.
They said 14 of the deaths were recorded in the worst-hit state of Kelantan, where some 158,476 people were displaced.
Four people died in Terengganu and three in Pahang state. There are also reports of outbreaks of flu and diarrhoea.
The number forced from their homes in the other affected states -- Pahang, Perak, Terengganu and Johor -- totalled 83,570.
Forecasters Wednesday predicted clear skies for the next three days.
"But we are still in the northeast monsoon period until March. We could expect heavy showers later in the week," a meteorological department official said.
Floodwaters have began to subside in many areas but authorities are bracing for possible disease outbreaks.
Noor Hisham Abdullah, health ministry director-general, said there was no major rise in flood-related diseases at the moment.
"We anticipate that flood victims will come in masses seeking care once the floodwaters start to recede," he said in a Facebook posting.
Rajbans Singh, president of the Malaysian Wellness Society, told AFP that floods can increase the transmission of typhoid fever, cholera, leptospirosis, malaria and dengue.
The government has been criticised for its slow response after many victims were caught stranded in outlying areas without food and clean water.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who came under fire after being filmed playing golf with US President Barack Obama in Hawaii when the disaster happened, said he was saddened by the flooding.
"I see so much destruction. It is depressing and sad," he said.
Najib is criss-crossing flood-hit areas and coordinating aid activities.
Ee Su Chuong, 42, the owner of an auto repair shop in Kota Bharu in Kelantan, said many people were taking advantage of the sunny day to clean their mud-filled homes after floodwaters receded.
"But they will return to the relief centres to spend the night because they are unable to cook on their own as most provision shops are still closed," he told AFP.
The National Security Council admitted there were delays in its relief efforts, saying this was partly because some of its staff were flood victims.
"Due to the magnitude of the floods, most districts were completely inundated. Our entire district machinery collapsed as they (staff) had become victims themselves," council secretary Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.
Damage to property and infrastructure close to RM1bil
RAZAK AHMAD, MAZWIN NIK ANIS, ZUHRIN AZAM AHMAD, JOSEPH KAOS JR, BEH YUEN HUI, ZAZALI MUSA, KATHLEEN ANN KILI, ONG HAN SEAN, WANI MUTHIAH, TASHNY SUKUMARAN, HANIS ZAINAL, CHRISTINE CHEAH, AND R.S.N. MURALI
The Star 3 Jan 15;
PETALING JAYA: Realisation is starting to sink in on just how devastating the floods have been on the country, infrastructure and people.
At the forefront are the thousands of villagers who lost their homes and those who lost their lives in the disaster.
But as the nation moves to recover, it is finding that there are more who have also lost.
Among them are some 69,000 rubber smallholders and up to 50,000 oil palm planters whose plantations are submerged.
They are suffering a loss in income while a lengthy submersion in water can damage the oil palm trees, adding to the cost.
In the worst-hit east coast state of Kelantan alone, there are about 150,000 farmers and livestock breeders with destroyed padi fields and vegetable plots, drowned livestock and swamped fish ponds.
The total damage to property and infrastructure in all the affected states is still being tallied but already the cost is close to RM1bil.
Some officials announced estimates yesterday totalling RM878mil.
This comprises RM350mil to repair damaged schools in five states, RM200mil in property damage, RM100mil to repair roads in Kelantan, RM132mil to repair roads in Terengganu and RM96mil to repair 93 collapsed hillslopes along the damaged roads in four states.
The tally does not include the losses incurred by the rubber, oil palm and agriculture sectors, which are among the main economic activities for residents of the east coast states.
The National Association of Small Holders (Nash) said that about 119,000 smallholders were affected and that a survey to determine the losses they suffered were ongoing.
“This has been a terrible flood and worst hit are oil palm smallholders in Pahang and Terengganu as well as rubber smallholders in Kelantan,” said Datuk Aliasak Ambia, president of Nash.
He said the rubber smallholders needed help in the form of equipment, such as cups and tapping knives, while the oil palm smallholders were hoping for fertiliser aid.
Nash has about 375,000 members who each plant rubber, oil palm and cocoa on plots of land less than 40ha.
Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said the land development authority was conducting a survey to determine the extent of damage and losses.
“So far, what I can say is that most of the damage has been to our plantations in Gua Musang, Kelantan, and in parts of Pahang,” he said.
Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a more accurate estimate of damage was not yet possible because most of the farmers were still in relief centres.
Also, with the farmers affected, the prices of vegetables are rising nationwide because the commodity has become scarce and inaccessible roads make it difficult to get the produce to market.
Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s Kelantan office general-manager Md Yuslan Md Yusof also could not put a figure to the damage but added that the flood damaged equipment such as switchgear, transformers, cables, conductors and electricity poles, mostly in Tanah Merah, Gua Musang and Kuala Krai.
Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said he could only give an accurate estimate on damage once the water subsided.
The Defence Ministry has pledged to help the Works Ministry with manpower to repair damaged public infrastructure, especially roads.
Unless roads are made accessible quickly and the weather improves, the supply of foodstuff in the badly affected states would only be fully restored within two weeks, said Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek.
