Kelantan, for first time, shows some improvement

 

FLOODS LIVE BLOG Malaysiakini brings the latest updates on the flood situation as they happen.

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Latest developments

• Malaysiakini observes serious food shortage in Kelantan
   
• School opening for 2015 delayed a week
   
• Ahmad Shabery Cheek says not all mobiles affected
   
• The water on Sungai Pahang has reached dangerous level in three areas
   
• Top civil servants recalled from leave to assist in relief efforts

Slight drop in evacuees as water recedes

7.31pm: There is slight improvement in the overall flood crisis as the number of displaced people fell slightly from 224,980 this afternoon to 222,365 this evening.

The number of evacuees has been on a decline, albeit very slowly, since this morning when there were 225,730 people housed at hundreds of relief centres in several states.

Kelantan, for the first time, shows some improvement. Conditions also improved in Johor, Perak and Terengganu.

Pahang is the only state which number of evacuees increase while the small number of people displaced by floods in Selangor have returned home.

The following is the latest number of displaced people as of 5pm today compared to noon's figures (at 3pm).

Kelantan 147,072 (-4,000)
Terengganu 32,210 (-572)
Selangor 0 (-33)
Johor 175 (-153)
Perak 7,407 (-133)
Pahang 35,501 (+2,276)

PM: Don't accept false news on social media

7.05pm: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak urges regulators to go after those who spread false news about the ongoing flood crisis.

"I hope the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission will trace those spreading false information and take action against them,” he is quoted as saying by Bernama.

Najib also urges the public to rely on official information provided by the government and not accept rumours circulated on social media.

Railway infrastructure damaged

6.40pm: KTM Berhad says that some delay is expected in restoring the train services in the east coast line because the damages to infrastructure.

According to a Bernama report, the floods have damaged basic infrastructures like tracks, bridges, platforms and railway stations between Gua Musang and Tumpat in Kelantan.

Meanwhile, the Singapore government would be contributing S$100,000 (RM264,359) to aid flood victims all over Malaysia.

The funds will be channelled through the Singapore Red Cross to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society to be distributed here.

Husam: Numbers not important

6.28pm: PAS vice-president Husam Musa, who has been surveying the flood situation in Kelantan, shrugs off the RM500 million allocation announced by the federal government to help flood victims.

Husam says the figures are unimportant at this stage and focus should be on what immediate actions are being taken to assist the flood victims.

“I don’t want to hear about hundreds of millions, I want to know if there will be school uniforms, whether there will be help to repair damaged houses and cars,” he says while visiting Kampung Kadok in Pasir Mas.

DAP wants RCI on floods

5.22pm: Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has urged a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the massive flooding in Malaysia, and that the government should learn from countries like South Korea and Japan so that the same incident won't happen again.

"This time, areas that have never experienced flooding before were also hit by the disaster.

"The water rose very fast and caught the authorities by surprise," he says during a press conference in Penang this evening.

He adds that such a situation should not have occurred in Malaysia, and the fact that it did, is a shame.

According to Lim, it shows the weaknesses in our country's disaster management system and standard operating procedure.

 http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/284782