Fatimah (left) speaking to one of the evacuees at the evacuation centre. Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (Jan 15): The number of evacuees in flood evacuation centres statewide are limited to 50 per cent of the centres’ full capacity due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said this was done in accordance with the State Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) recommendations and standard operating procedures (SOP).
“Since we are still experiencing the pandemic, in terms of numbers (of evacuees), it will not exceed 50 per cent of the hall’s full capacity.
“This helps us to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as well as to prevent congestion in the evacuation centres,” she added.
Fatimah said this when met by reporters during her visit to SJK Chung Hwa Sungai Tengah evacuation centre at Jalan Sejijak, Batu Kawa here today.
She then reminded the heads of households in the evacuation centres to report the number of family members accurately so that they can be placed at their respective cubicles in the centre.
She also said that cooking activities were no longer done in the centres and instead, they will be provided with a cooked meal.
“We would like to thank the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) for providing the cubicles, and for providing the families the needed privacy, especially for nursing mothers and teenage girls.
“One family should be able to fit in one cubicle. If the family is too big, we will divide and place them into two cubicles,” she added.
She then expressed her gratitude to individuals and non governmental organisations (NGOs) for their support by providing aid and various necessities to the flood victims.
As at 5pm today, a total of 4,413 victims from 1,171 families were relocated to 49 evacuation centres.
Kuching Division remained as having the highest number of evacuees, with 3,043 victims from 760 families and are relocated to 31 evacuation centres here.