Flood relief ‘rewarding but with a twist’ for Serian Chapter MRC
SERIAN: The Serian Chapter of the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) has some ‘damage control’ on its hands after flood waters receded here, parrying an accusation that its staff pilfered food during relief work and smearing the principles of the MRC which they uphold.
It however described the recent humanitarian work to prepare meals for the 500 flood evacuees at Serian Relief Centre as challenging but satisfying work.
Officer-in-charge of MRC Serian Youth, Phang Nyuk Lan, also said their duty at the relief centre was hampered by lack of cooking equipment to prepare meals on a mass scale.
As such, the volunteers had to work non-stop from early morning till dinner time to prepare meals, and things got complicated when raw ingredients reached late and delayed the serving of meals.
She also pointed out that it was so unfortunate when the volunteers were accused of pilfering food items, when all they did was to re- arrange the items donated by the public at the relief centre.
“This unfortunate and baseless accusation not only caused misunderstanding among the flood victims towards the volunteers but also raised an uneasiness among the sincere members of the relief team who sacrificed their time to surmount the task,” she said.
She therefore reassured the public, especially the flood victims at the Serian Relief Centre, to understand and trust that they carry out humanitarian work unconditionally.
“We are helping at the relief centre according to the 7 Fundamental Principles of Red Cross & Red Crescent.
“We prepared their meals based on the ration provided by the JKM ( Welfare Department).
“We sincerely hope the JKM and the penghulu kampungs can help us to clear any misunderstanding created by the victims (sic) on us,” she said.
She thanked the principal and staff of SMK Serian and SMK Gedong for their moral support; parents of the volunteers who allowed their children to join the humanitarian effort and the chairman of MRC Serian Chapter, Dr Kiu Chiong Chin, for his strong moral and financial support to bear part of the operational expenses to make the humanitarian work run smoothly at the relief centre.
She also expressed her appreciation to the army personnel stationed at the relief centre who showed high discipline and dedication in their duty and the co- operation of most of the flood victims.
“The army personnel worked together as a very good team with the MRC volunteers in cooking and serving the food,” she said.
Floods in the final week of February saw more than 500 flood victims being evacuated to Dewan Masyarakat Serian which was the relief centre.
The victims were from Kpg Hulu, Kpg Hilir, Kpg Munggu Limo, Kpg Bunga Siantan, Kpg Hulu No. 2, Kpg. Terusan Ranchan, Kpg Slabi Entukuh and Kpg Sungai Muara Tangga.
The MRC had dispatched four Voluntary Aid Detachment ( VAD) members from MRC SMK Serian and officers from various units led by Ban Hand Eron who is the chairman of Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Response Committee of MRC Serian Chapter.
This unfortunate and baseless accusation not only caused misunderstanding among the flood victims towards the volunteers but also raised an uneasiness among the sincere members of the relief team who sacrificed their time to surmount the task.
Phang Nyuk Lan, Officer-in-charge of MRC Serian Youth