"No answers despite five applications for flood financial aid" - flood victim

SHAH ALAM- The victims of the flood tragedy are still struggling to rebuild their homes as they have yet to receive the financial aid they were promised by the government.

Mohd Fuad Shukri, 58, from Taman Sri Muda, said he had tried everything to get the Bantuan Selangor Bangkit (BSB) assistance but luck was not on his side.

According to him, many of the flood victims in the area have not received the aid as promised by the state government although a month has passed since the catastrophe.

“I have made five applications to receive the assistance but until now there were no answers whether it has been processed or not,” he said when met on Friday.

Single mother Norazilah Mohamed Bakeri, 49, said she was in distress thinking of the ways to get the assistance to cover the losses she suffered due to the flood.

Some of the victims, she said had to pawn their jewellery for cash to survive and support their family and this did not include the costs to repair their houses and vehicles.

“They had to do so because their savings were insufficient to pay for all the losses they incurred,” she said adding that she had incurred losses totalling around RM20,000 because of the disaster that hit the area.

She said the situation got even more difficult when she was kept in the dark about her application status for the BSB although she had submitted the application more than once.

Another single mother, Siti Mariam Johar, 61, said she could only wait for the assistance from the government as she was tired of asking for sympathy.

“As a single mother, I do not have a fixed income and I depend on my children apart from working part-time at home,” said the woman who works as a babysitter, taking care of six children at her own house, for extra income.

In this regard, the flood victims were demanding for Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari to fulfil the promise by the state government to distribute the BSB aid by the end of February.