malaysiangBERA, Jan 3 — Since mid-November last year, Rohani Jamaluddin who taps rubber for a living could not go to work due to the wet season.
Things took a turn for the worse when her house and rubber plantation were flooded for the second time within a year.
Rohani, 60, said on Dec 20, her house in Kampung Lubuk Lian here was flooded by waist-deep floodwaters, adding that part of her one-hectare plantation was also affected.
“Earlier this year, I planted 60 oil palm trees on vacant land next to the rubber plantation. I don’t know what happened to the trees because I still don’t have time to go there because I am busy cleaning the house since I returned from the temporary relief centre on Dec 27,” she told Bernama here today.
She said she was worried that another flooding would occur due to the prolonged rain, adding that several low-lying areas were already flooded.
The widow was among 50 recipients of flood aid contributed by the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) in the Bera district.
The donations were presented by RISDA director-general Abdullah Zainal and each recipient received daily necessities such as a gas stove, food basket and futon worth RM13,000.
Apart from the donations, RISDA has also established a team of 140 volunteers to participate in post-flood operations in Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Kelantan.
Rohani said she was grateful for the assistance, adding that it could ease her financial burden.
“Fortunately, I also receive the RM300 monsoon season aid a month because I could not go to work, which I can use to buy food items,” she added.
Another recipient, Anita Ahmad, 52, who is a kindergarten supervisor said her less than one-hectare rubber plantation located beside her house in Kampung Mengkarak here, was flooded since Dec 20.
Anita who taps rubber to generate extra income said she and her family members could not go to work for almost two months because of continuous rain and now the floods.
“We can’t go to the plantation because floods have not completely receded,” she said.
Anita said water rose so fast that just within a day, her house was submerged under ceiling-deep floodwaters, adding that she immediately sent her 70-year-old ailing mother to the relief centre at Kampung Mengkarak Mosque after seeing the fast-rising waters.
Meanwhile, Amar Romlan, 43 said he only managed to resume working for three days before the area was flooded again on the first day of the new year.
He said that he hoped this second wave of floods would not prolong so that his income would not be badly affected.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
