At the forefront are the thousands of villagers in West Malaysia who
lost their homes and those who lost their lives in the disaster cause by the
recent floods.But as the nation moves to recover, it is finding that there are more who have also lost.
Realisation is starting to sink in on just how devastating
the floods have been on the country, infrastructure and people.
Among them are some 69,000 rubber smallholders and up to
50,000 oil palm planters whose plantations are submerged.
They are suffering a loss in income while a lengthy
submersion in water can damage the oil palm trees, adding to the cost.
In the worst-hit east coast state of Kelantan alone, there
are about 150,000 farmers and livestock breeders with destroyed padi fields and
vegetable plots, drowned livestock and swamped fish ponds.
The total damage to property and infrastructure in all the
affected states is still being tallied but already the cost is close to RM1bil. Some officials announced estimates yesterday totalling
RM878mil.This comprises RM350mil to repair damaged schools in five states, RM200mil in property damage, RM100mil to repair roads in Kelantan, RM132mil to repair roads in Terengganu and RM96mil to repair 93 collapsed hillslopes along the damaged roads in four states.
The National Association of Small Holders (Nash) said that
about 119,000 smallholders were affected and that a survey to determine the
losses they suffered were ongoing.with the farmers affected, the prices of vegetables are rising nationwide because the commodity has become scarce and inaccessible roads make it difficult to get the produce to market.
Unless roads are made accessible quickly and the weather improves, the supply of foodstuff in the badly affected states would only be fully restored within two weeks, said Domestic Trade,
Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk
Seri Hasan Malek.
Source: The Star
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