Needs of flood victims will be taken care of - Treasury Sec-Gen

The government will ensure that all the needs of flood victims, especially food, will be given priority.

Treasury secretary-general, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Siregar said the RM50 million allocation immediately channeled to the flood-hit states, hopefully, could lessen their burden.

"The allocation will ease the purchase of essential items as the current flood situation requires quick action.

"The Finance Ministry will make it easier for the parties involved to acquire supplies and assets without having to follow the normal procedure," he told reporters, here, today.

Mohd Irwan also reminded residents not to resort to panic buying as there were claims of supply shortage of certain necessities in some flood-hit areas.

"Residents should not be worried about the supply of necessities as we will ensure sufficient supply. All hypermarkets are also urged to increase their supply to avoid claims of shortages by consumers," he said.

Mohd Irwan said the government would also obtain boats from neighbouring countries to facilitate rescue of flood victims or ferrying of supplies to them.

He said currently there were difficulties to reach certain flood-hit areas by land, so boats and helicopters would be used for that purpose.

Meanwhile, he said, the number of rescue workers from the agencies involved currently at over 3,000 would be increased if necessary.

He noted that the flood situation in the East Coast states was worrying and hoped that residents would not treat it as fiesta time so as to avoid any untoward incident.