The tropical depression that climaxed from the middle until the end of December of last year brought massive flood to many areas across Malaysia. The floods were reported as the worst that have ever been seen in decades. The strong current had devoured many areas in the states of Malaysia, including Terengganu, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Pahang, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, and Johor.
During the massive flood, the media were swarmed with footages displaying the disastrous situation where the flood water submerged scores of vehicles. The strong current also swept away valuable goods, including furniture and home appliances. In addition, the floodwater which was contaminated with sewage waste had soiled clothes, curtains, rugs, and many other fabrics, leaving them to waste.
At the same time, flood victims had experienced hunger and cold due to the inaccessibility of food and electricity disruption. As they witnessed their homes being engulfed by the flood, they were forced to evacuate and seek temporary shelters.
Indeed, the flood had taken away many things from the victims. The only thing left was deposited mud, sediment and silt to their houses, a condition that caused them unimaginable devastation. Furthermore, the loss of family members due to the strong current also culminated their misery to the maximum.
Fortunately, humanity is revived and blooming in many kind souls during this immense hardship and desperation period. Across the social media, we witnessed many inspiring stories involving organisations and volunteers who shared enormous empathy with the victims. Many had answered the call for volunteers.
Some travelled from afar, bringing whatever necessary equipment they had to assist the rescue team in evacuating stranded victims to relief centres. Some put on a heart touching effort to rescue animals that were helplessly stranded in houses. At the relief centres, organisations, especially NGOs, diligently coordinated aid that included food, clothes, blankets, toiletries collected from donors and distributed them to victims.
During post-flood, cleaning the debris and sediment and putting things back to their places was one of the exhaustive and challenging tasks. Leaving the task to the victims alone would add up to their burden. Therefore, after the flood subsided, local communities and residents’ associations continuously mobilised volunteers to each affected area.
Many volunteers pitched in and helped clean the affected houses and surrounding areas. For example, some groups dedicated themselves to scraping the mud off the floor, scrubbing the walls and cleaning furniture to make homes liveable again. Other groups cleared fallen trees, strewn rubbish, and blocked drainage to enable transportation and facilitate smooth water flow. With these combined efforts, the affected areas slowly recovered from the impact of the disaster.
Apart from the flood debris, many houses suffered from long-term structural damage. In a more unfortunate case, the flood totally washed away homes leaving only the front staircase or just home sites. Small enterprises also suffered from huge losses. Recovering from these huge damages is extremely costly, given many of the victims were still struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, some organisations or people with reputable images such as public figures, celebrities, activists, and businessmen actively conducted fundraising to ease the financial burden of severe losses experienced by flood victims. In response to the campaign, many generous parties contributed to the fund to cover part of the huge expense required to replace and repair damaged properties.
Some electrical and electronic businesses channelled their expertise in providing free of charge service to repair electrical and electronic appliances, including fridges, washing machines, laptops, and computers. Such kind of help will directly reduce the need of purchasing new ones or paying costly repairs.
The outpouring of support from fellow citizens proves that Malaysians share sympathy and display empathy towards those in unfortunate situations. It is the solidarity of all citizens of Malaysia regardless of race, religion, and background. This unity of generous help hopefully alleviated victims’ burden.
More coverage should be given to the inspiring stories where people helped one another during this desperation period. Such stories may trigger humanity in each citizen to participate and contribute to helping the flood victims. In the long run, should other forms of challenges appear in the future, hopefully, such stories will be remembered and continue to capture the hearts of many and subsequently attract volunteers and support.
In Islam, lending a helping hand to the weak and helpless always embodies the strong faith. In this regard, a prophetic tradition narrated by Muslim assures a priceless reward to those who offer a helping hand. The tradition emphasised that “He who alleviates the suffering of a brother out of the sufferings of the world, Allah would alleviate his suffering from the sufferings of the Day of Resurrection, and he who finds relief for one who is hard-pressed, Allah would make things easy for him in the Hereafter.” Hopefully, with such an assurance, we are motivated to take part in helping those who are in need.