THE government should increase its financial aid to flood victims from RM1,000 to at least RM8,000 per household, Klang MP Charles Santiago said.

According to Santiago, RM1,000 was not enough for people to put to good use.

“I spoke to a lady in Telok Gong who said her entire kitchen was damaged including, all the appliances.

“She can’t do much with the RM1,000 offered by the government. Nothing can be done when the houses here have suffered much greater damage,” he said.

He also said that the flood victims were already suffering economically from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the flood just piled on the misery.

“Some of them have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and are still unemployed, so how are they going to afford new furniture for their houses?” he said.

Santiago said most of the victims in Klang and nearby Shah Alam were from the B40 community, who definitely need more financial aid from the government.

Last Sunday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced RM100 million in funding to repair homes and infrastructure, with further funding to follow if required.

Under this, each household affected by floods would receive RM1,000, to be disbursed after victims had returned to their homes.

Continuous heavy rain resulted in devastating floods last weekend in Perak, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

Santiago’s Klang constituency has been one of the most affected areas.

Many residents lost almost everything as floodwaters reached as high as rooftops in some areas. The floods have also destroyed thousands of vehicles.

As of today, there have been 47 deaths and five are still missing.

There were 29,108 people displaced by floods in Pahang, followed 23,302 people in Selangor. – December 26, 2021.