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Turkey pledges flood assistance for east coast post-flood relief operations
KUALA LUMPUR, April 13, 2015:
As part of its global humanitarian cause, the Turkish government has pledged to help and assist Malaysia, both financially and in expertise, in the east coast post-flood relief operations.
This came following a recent visit by Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) to the flood affected areas in Kelantan.
According to the Republic of Turkey Ambassador to Malaysia Basak Turkoglu, the three-member team visited Kelantan on April 8 together with the officials from Post-Flood Recovery Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia.
“The AFAD team visited the flood affected areas at Kota Baru, Kuala Krai and Manik Urai on the one-day visit to survey the area as well as advice our Malaysian counterparts on the damage relief effort,” she told reporters at the Turkey ambassador’s official residence in Jalan Ampang Tengah here today.
During the press briefing, Turkoglu also extended the Turkish government’s assistance by providing 1,650 steel bed frames and mattresses worth up to US$250,000 (RM917,575) for the flood victims.
“At the moment, the Malaysian government is going through the second stage of reconstruction and renovation for the flood victims to settle in their new homes.
“As such, the steel bed frames and mattresses will be delivered to the Post-Flood Recovery Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia for distribution within six weeks,” she said.
Additionally, Turkoglu also pledged further corporation between AFAD and the Malaysian authorities on disaster management.
“The AFAD is an integral part of our government with 26 government departments under its purview during disaster management.
“Since its establishment, AFAD has perform many international aid operations in Syria, Iraq, Palestine and Somalia, giving them invaluable experience in handling disaster,” she said, adding that due to Turkey’s “open door policy” it has been supporting 2 million Syrian refugees in the country.
According to AFAD working group head Hamza Ozkilic, despite the ongoing recovery works,
the flood affected areas still look bad and will take time for the areas to completely rebuilt.
“There are many areas which are badly affected and we hope that we will be able to provide enough expertise to assist our friends in Malaysia towards full recovery,” he said.
Meanwhile Post-Flood Recovery Unit head Datuk Ahmad Zaki Ansore Mohd Yusof expressed his gratitude on behalf of the government for the timely assistance from Turkey.
“We are very grateful for their assistance and are looking forward to learn as much as possible from the AFAD team.
“The aid of steel bed frames and mattresses will be distributed not only just in Kelantan but all other flood affected areas in the peninsula,” he added.