Flood-hit households in Selangor will each receive an extra RM2,500 in flood aid, with payments expected to start on Tuesday (Nov 10), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Monday (Nov 9) as the number of people in relief centres in the state more than doubled during the day.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the special cash aid is meant to help families replace household essentials that were damaged or destroyed by the floods. It said the implementing agency would announce the eligibility criteria and how the money will be paid. The payment goes to the heads of eligible households and is aimed at families who have been displaced for a long time and suffered heavy losses.
The new aid comes on top of the RM1,000 Bantuan Wang Ihsan compassionate payment channelled through the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), and it will be placed under the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department. Anwar said the usual RM1,000 was often not enough given the extent of the damage.
He made the announcement after visiting flood victims at the temporary relief centre at SK Parit Mahang in Jeram, Kuala Selangor, which was housing 154 people from 36 families. Anwar also directed that flood mitigation projects be expedited to deal with recurring floods, and thanked federal and state personnel, volunteers and medical teams who worked through the Deepavali long weekend.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said district officers would manage the payments through a single joint counter coordinated with the state government’s office.
The announcement came as the number of evacuees in Selangor rose again. As of 3.40pm on Monday, 583 people from 163 families were at four temporary relief centres, all of them in Kuala Selangor, up from 215 people from 55 families that morning. Last week the number of evacuees in the state passed 1,200, as more relief centres opened in Kuala Selangor.
In Perak, numbers eased slightly, with 419 people from 124 families still at relief centres in Hilir Perak on Monday afternoon.
More wet weather is on the way as the northeast monsoon sets in. The Malaysian Meteorological Department has issued severe rain warnings for Kelantan and Terengganu until Wednesday, and the national flood forecasting centre has said floods could hit parts of Kelantan and Pahang.