JAKARTA, Jan 4 — The Malaysian Consulate General in Medan, in cooperation with Mercy Malaysia, has extended humanitarian assistance to 125 families in Kota Lintang Bawah, Kuala Simpang, in Indonesia’s Aceh Tamiang.

Speaking to Bernama today, Consul General Shahril Nizam Abdul Malek said this was the third time such assistance has been handed over under the Peduli Bencana Banjir programme.

He said the assistance, distributed last Friday and comprising food baskets and cleaning tools, was intended to help flood victims meet their immediate needs and begin clearing debris left by the disaster.

He said Kota Lintang Bawah was among the hardest-hit areas, with most of its approximately 800 houses destroyed by the floods, leaving only a few slightly damaged.

“This village is located in a riverine area. When floods occur, there is an accumulation of logs carried along the river, which then crash into the homes of residents here,” he said.

Shahril Nizam said the consulate also engaged with local officials on the day of the handover to coordinate the pre-recovery process.

This includes the redevelopment of health facilities for communities, including 12 that were completely destroyed during disasters.

The media reported that the floods and landslides that struck Sumatra in late November claimed more than 1,000 lives, with 165 people still missing, while more than 250,000 victims were displaced.

According to Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), Aceh Tamiang recorded the second-highest number of displaced persons, at about 115,000, behind Aceh Utara, which reported 166,900. — Bernama

JAKARTA, Jan 5 — Schools in disaster-affected areas of North Sumatra are set to resume teaching and learning activities on Monday, with more than 95.23 per cent declared ready despite lingering damage from recent floods and landslides, Indonesian authorities said.

In a statement on Sunday, Indonesia’s Primary and Secondary Education Minister Abdul Mu’ti said 1,157 of the 1,215 schools in the affected areas are ready to reopen, as the second school term begins nationwide.

He added that some schools will operate under temporary arrangements, including holding classes in tents, while others are still undergoing the cleanup.

“God willing, those schools will be ready for use by January 5 (tomorrow),” he said.

For educational institutions that have not yet fully recovered, Abdul Mu’ti said the ministry has prepared a specially designed curriculum, stressing that the approach will be adaptive and flexible, taking into account on-the-ground conditions without diminishing students’ enthusiasm for learning.

“What matters most is our spirit to rise again, our determination to continue learning, and our drive to pursue a better future,” he said.

Abdul Mu’ti also expressed appreciation to all parties involved in accelerating the recovery of the education sector in North Sumatra. 

Media reports stated that the floods and landslides that struck Sumatra in late November claimed more than 1,000 lives, with 165 people still missing, while more than 250,000 victims were displaced. — Bernama

KOTA KINABALU: Res­id­ents of Kam­pung Ram­payan Laut, here, described Sat­urday’s flash flood as the worst in more than 50 years, after water levels rose rap­idly to waist height and inund­ated their homes.

Jali­nah Md Jali, 62, said the flood­wa­ter came so quickly that many people could not save their belong­ings.

“The water usu­ally does not enter the house. But yes­ter­day (Sat­urday), it reached waist height and flooded our homes,” she said while clear­ing mud and water from the liv­ing room.

Jali­nah said the fur­niture and elec­trical items such as refri­ger­at­ors were dam­aged. “I have lived here for more than 60 years and have never seen a flood this severe.”

She hopes that local rep­res­ent­at­ives and agen­cies would find long-term solu­tions to the flood issue. Jali Jawi, 52, said Sat­urday’s flood was much severe than usual.

He said the water level began rising around 5.30pm on Sat­urday and star­ted reced­ing early yes­ter­day.

A check by Bernama found that flood­wa­ters had receded to ankle level from waist level, with most of the area covered in thick mud. Res­id­ents were busy clean­ing their homes and dry­ing salvaged items.

The Sabah Dis­aster Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee said the num­ber of flood vic­tims rose from 282 on Sat­urday to 495 yes­ter­day morn­ing, with all of them shel­ter­ing at two centres.

In Kota Kin­abalu, 180 vic­tims from 46 fam­il­ies are placed at the Al-Munir Mosque Hall in Kam­pung Darau, while in Beaufort, 315 vic­tims from 113 fam­il­ies are at the Selagon Hall Per­man­ent Evac­u­ation Centre.

THE Drain­age and Irrig­a­tion Depart­ment (DID) said Kelantan is expec­ted to be affected by another round of floods start­ing today.

This fol­lows the issu­ance of a con­tinu­ous rain warn­ing by the Malay­sian Met­eor­o­lo­gical Depart­ment (Met­Malay­sia) yes­ter­day.

DID’s National Flood Fore­cast­ing and Warn­ing Centre said floods were likely to occur from today to Thursday in 10 dis­tricts, with river basins.

They are Tumpat, Pasir Mas, Bachok, Machang, Kota Baru, Pasir Puteh, Jeli, Tanah Merah, Kuala Krai and Gua Musang, where the Sun­gai Kelantan, Sun­gai Golok, Sun­gai Sem­erak, Sun­gai Kemasin, Sun­gai Lebir, Sun­gai Galas and Sun­gai Neng­giri basins are loc­ated, respect­ively.

“Flood warn­ings will be updated if sig­ni­fic­ant rain­fall per­sists in these basins. “The fore­cast floods may occur earlier or later than the expec­ted dates."

Dis­aster man­age­ment agen­cies and res­id­ents, espe­cially those liv­ing in high-risk areas, are urged to remain vigil­ant and to com­ply with the author­it­ies’ instruc­tions. The pub­lic is encour­aged to obtain inform­a­tion and warn­ings through the pub­li­cin­fobanjir.water.gov.my portal or the Pub­li­cIn­foBanjir Face­book page.