Datuk Fatimah Abdullah
KUCHING: The Social Welfare Department (JKM) in Sibu is still registering victims of the fire that gutted Rumah Michael Jelak Busau on Tuesday.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Well-being Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said welfare aid would be disbursed as soon as the number of victims had been determined.
“We know that 39 doors were affected, so we have to determine how many people were in each unit. From there, we can determine how much welfare aid to disburse,” she told a press conference here yesterday.
“The process of recording the victims is still ongoing due to the large number involved.”
Fatimah said the initial aid to be disbursed would be the one-off RM40 per person.
“Then we have to calculate other necessities, such as schooling aid for families with school-age children, cash for kitchenware, rations for one week, and building materials aid of RM2,500 per door.
“We hope to get all the information in and disburse all these aids to the victims by July 23.”
The fire victims are currently housed in a temporary camp near the site of the fire, as they did not want to be relocated to a temporary housing area.
Fatimah also noted there were many other things the victims need assistance with, such as replacements of lost documents.