KOTA BARU: The Kelantan Welfare Department has come up with its own initiative by introducing a special card called 'Kad PPS' (flood relief centre card) to flood victims in the state.
The introduction of the card was to ensure that food aid and other necessities were distributed equally to flood victims.
The initiative makes the Kelantan Welfare Department the first in the country to introduce the card.
The department's director Said Sidup said that they began to distribute the card to the heads of households who were evacuated to flood relief centres yesterday.
"We decided to introduce the card to make it easy for welfare officers to check whether the flood victims had received the aid that was provided to them by the government.
"We do not want them to miss getting the supplies or (on the other hand) receive the aid twice. We want all flood victims to get access to supplies equally.
"The move also aims to prevent leakages in the distribution," he told reporters after visiting the department's depot in Kemumin here today.
Also present was the department's chief assistant director Azman Mat Zain.
On another note, Said said the department is expected to spend about RM2.34 million
on flood preparations, as well as to ensure sufficient supply of necessities, including food for victims, in the state this year.
He said the necessities had been sent to 160 bases in the state since last month as early preparation.
"Last year, we were allocated more than RM1 million but ended up spending nearly RM5 million on flood victims as the number of victims had reached more than 44,000 at 169 relief centres throughout the state last year.
"This year, we will seek more allocation for emergency funds in case the floods worsen this year," he added.
He also said the department has made preparations at all the relief centres, totalling 456 this year and visits to the premises had been conducted by the relevant agencies.
On food preparations, he said the department has appointed 108 caterers and they have been briefed on the procedure for food distribution to flood victims.
"There are two ways of distributing the food. First by packaging and second by 'gotong-royong' (en masse) cooking at the relief centres," he added.
