YOUTH party Muda will continue flood relief efforts on the ground even though nine of its committee members have tested positive for Covid-19.

Party secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz said the party had moved its coordinating efforts online and was using Zoom for daily briefings.

“We are still working remotely. Every morning and night we will have a virtual call to ensure work continues,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“The clean-up work continues. For Kuala Lumpur and Selangor we coordinate virtually, but we have established a command centre in Termerloh, Pahang. It’s business as usual.”

Amira said guidelines were in place to prevent a Covid-19 outbreak at the command centre.

“People entering (the command centre) have to self-test (for Covid) beforehand. That also applies for volunteers; they have to take an RTK-antigen test before going out.

“Two days ago, when a person was found to be positive after a self-test, we sent everyone in the command centre for a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. We found that eight more were positive.”

There are 20 people working out of the command centre and nine have Covid-19, she said.

“Some who tested positive did not have symptoms. Our head of logistics (who tested positive) is still coordinating the logistics team; he still arranges the transport on the ground.”

Flood victims can’t wait

Almira said party leaders did consider putting the relief effort on hold but it was decided that the flood victims could not wait for aid.

“There was a discussion on whether we should halt, but we don’t want to hold on to the money for too long.

“We have RM2 million to spend, we cannot wait until everyone recovers. There is a need for us to spend as fast as possible (to help the flood victims).”

Muda recently launched a new initiative called Bangkit to raise more funds for flood victims.

“From the RM2 million we have raised so far, we have set aside RM500,00 for Bangkit, but donations specifically for Bangkit are starting to pour in.”

The Bangkit fund will pay for cash relief, household appliances, school uniforms and books, legal aid and other essential items for flood victims.

“As of Thursday, we have received RM70,000 in cash donations for Bangkit. We have also received donations of appliances such as refrigerators, RM50,000 worth of food vouchers, 2,000 food packs, and 100 kitchen appliances. Someone has also pledged to donate two container houses,” she said.

The application form for aid is available on maribantu.my/mohon/

The website showed the group has raised RM145,724 for Bangkit. The target is RM1 million.

Muda is one of several groups that has harnessed the power of social media to raise manpower and supplies for disaster relief. 

Continuous heavy rain lashed large parts of the Klang Valley over the December 18 weekend, causing devastating floods, with water reaching up to the roof in some places.

Other states inundated were Perak, Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

The floods have killed 48 people and caused thousands to seek shelter at relief centres nationwide. – January 1, 2022.