Aid pours in for Rumah Lorre fire victims
KAPIT: Residents of Rumah Lorre at Nanga Ibau Tengah here have received some muchneeded relief aid, in the form of cash and daily necessities.
The 39- door longhouse was reduced to ashes during a fire on Saturday evening, leaving its 236 residents with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Leading the group of donors was Bukit Goram assemblyman Jefferson Jamit Unyat, who arrived there from Kuching on Sunday upon being notified of the incident.
“I rushed here as soon as I received news of the fire. I share your sorrow and sadness, and I call upon all of you to remain strong and united with your ‘tuai rumah’ ( longhouse chieftain) and JKKK (village security and development committee) in this difficult moment,” he told the affected residents.
Jamit, who was met at the site
I rushed here as soon as I received news of the fire. I share your sorrow and sadness, and I call upon all of you to remain strong and united with your ‘tuai rumah’ (longhouse chieftain) and JKKK (village security and development committee) in this difficult moment.
of the razed longhouse by Tuai Rumah Lorre, JKKK members and heads of various nongovernmental organisations ( NGOs), handed over a personal donation of RM8,000 and a further RM19,500 – or RM500 per unit – from Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi.
Jamit also thanked various agencies and NGOs for their immediate response towards channelling aid to the fire victims.
“I am touched by the noble effort of the various organisations – SUPP Kapit, Malaysian Red Crescent, Lions Club Kapit, Kapit Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Che Quan Khor Moral Uplifting Society, Kapit Chinese Community Leaders Association, Kapit Chinese Women Association, Marian Guild Mary Immaculate Conception Church and many others for providing blankets, clothes, cooking utensils, rice, canned food, sugar, cooking oil and other daily necessities.
“As for the Kapit Disaster Management Committee, Kapit District Office, Welfare Department, police, Civil Defence Force, National Registration Department, Sarawak Rivers Board and other agencies, you
Jefferson Jamit Unyat, Bukit Goram assemblyman
have done a good job on the ground assisting the victims,” said Jamit.
In his brief remarks, Lorre thanked all those who had come together to help, adding that the longhouse folk would always remember the kindness shown to them.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, although a short circuit is thought to be the culprit.