KANGAR: The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) will ensure that assistance to victims of the storm that lashed the northern states on Friday is coordinated and expedited.
Datuk Romli Ishak, who is the political secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said the Nadma meeting in Putrajaya Tuesday decided that aid should be channelled immediately. We need not wait for Nadma chairman Dr Wan Azizah to return from performing the haj in Makkah.
“I represented Nadma on her behalf at the meeting. We have decided to conduct surveys so that immediate relief can be channelled so that the victims are confident that they are being assisted by the government,” he told Bernama after inspecting the houses of the victims, here today.
During the survey, Romli was accompanied by officers of the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) in the Prime Minister’s Department, Perlis Civil Defence Force (CDF) and Perlis Social Welfare Department (SWD).
The thunderstorm on Friday night, inflicted damage on hundreds of homes, schools, businesses and buildings in Perlis.
Nadma would also ensure that basic needs and the placement of disaster victims were given priority, Romli said, asking corporate parties together with the government to help the storm victims, which also affected Kedah, Penang and parts of Perak.
In Perlis, he said the SWD and CDF were expected to complete a census this week, which is expected to reach 1,000 victims but there were no fatalities.
According to reports, census conducted on 530 victims show no serious damage done and losses did not amount to much, said Romli.
He said apart from compassionate aid given to each victim, Nadma will extend immediate assistance for house repairs under RM5,000 through the CDF while an amount exceeding that would take a bit more time. - Bernama
