Monday, January 22, 2007

FLOOD RELIEF EFFORT by Amateur Radio Operators

Amid news of a second wave of flooding in Johor, a group of Amateur Radio operators along which most are off-roaders put their effort and time together to bring relief ie. essential foodstuff and basic toiletries and necessities to the flood victims of Segamat areas and orang asli settlement. Word was put out to the amateur radio fraternity, friends and family and in no time at all, all forms of donated items from rice to school bags were collected.

On the eve of departure, news were received that road leading to targeted Kg Peta in Kahang was not passable to all traffic due to the incessant rain! It was reported that certain stretches of the off-road track leading to the village was under 10 feet of water! Nevertheless, a convoy of 16 4x4 vehicles gathered at a restaurant in TTDI early Saturday morning to load up the items donated by caring Malaysians.

The convoy made its way south entering Damansara toll plaza and exiting Tangkak via the NSE. Rangkaian Segar, the concession holder of the highway provided sponsorship of Touch n Go Electronic cash cards for the journey.

On reaching Segamat, we made distributions at Kg Batu Badak, Kg Pogoh 3, Kg Pogoh 2 and Kg Tungku 3. The only road to Kg Tungku 3 was inundated with about 0.5 meter of fast flowing floodwater. The convoy managed to cross without any incident. Here, we were greeted with smiling village folks and kids who were happy to see us. To close the day, the last village visited was Kg Sri Sekijang. We went in during night fall to provide the relief.

On second day, the convoy proceeded to Kg. Orang Asli Segamat Kecil traversing dirt roads, off road tracks, oil palm and rubber plantations and muddy trails, accessible only to 4x4 vehicles and motorcycles. This was due to the bridge along the normal access route being washed away. Most of the houses were in low-lying areas and were close to the Segamat River. This village was completely cut off from the mainstream.

We noted they were never short of smiles even when the villagers related the arduous conditions they had endured during the worst of the floods. We were deeply touched.

Many flood victims were still living in poverty and were less fortunate. Some had the ability to reconstruct their lives whilst some cannot afford. They were left to stare abysmally at what was left of their lives, belongings lost, houses wrecked, displaced without basic provisions and having to pick up the parts and pieces left behind by the receding waters.

We also noted houses were swept away leaving only the concrete foundations, trees were uprooted, roads with certain sections eroded and bridges also not spared by the forces of mother nature, personal belongings and household items and even lives was snatched by the power of the water.

The convoy made its way back safely to Kuala Lumpur the next day. We hope this relief effort had created some form of awareness amongst those not affected by the floods and raised their appreciation and understanding of the plight of the orang asli and also the less fortunate. We were humbled by what we saw and were happy that we could provide a little relief to the sufferings they were going through.

The group would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to whom without such, the event will not be successful

A big Thank you to the following:

1. Amatuer Radio Group whom assisted in the initiative
2. Rangkaian Segar for providing pre-loaded Touch & Go cards to the group
3. Restaurant Ali Baba in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail for usage of venue for collection & disembarkment
4. All friends and concerned members of the public whom in one way or another gave a lending hand and or made contribution in kind

from 9W2PO/9W2AFY
click on above link to view more photos courtesy of 9W2AFY

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done my friends.

Before I forget, I believe that I didn't get the opportunity to thank all the guys for a job well done. Kudos to all for the hard work, especially those who took the effort and time to coordinate the entire relief exercise (you know who you are, and we do too!). I know that it was and still is a thankless and backbreaking task.

And so in conclusion, I thank and congratulate everyone who assisted in making the "Charity Drive" an overwhelming success.

Regards, 9w2kyc

Postscript:

The incessant bickering that followed was unwarranted. I believe that the incessant rain in Johor has stopped and I believe that this should too.

Life is too short for things like wasteful chatter on wrong frequencies, unsolicited fame and a desire for glory and things of that nature. Live today like there is no tomorrow. Carpe diem!!!

Anonymous said...

To Ong and his team,

Keep up the good work.dont worry what those heartless people say.You all are not working to assist the flood victims
for personal glory. It is just to a duty to help fellow mankind who are in despair and suffering.

Once again thank you to ALL.


Cheerio

Anonymous said...

guys, lets do this again.

9W2SBS

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with SBS, the camaderie generated was excellent (most of it anyway).

9W2KYC

Anonymous said...

ya! lets do it again, but this time with some salt in ayam kurma...he he he. but well done boys.....


73s.....
bobby (ICE)

9W2XYZ said...

This time we collect brooms, mops, copies of the Quran, Bible, spades etc.

The day after?



Good job guys. I mirror the sentiment of our new ham. Col Saunders 9W2KYC

Anonymous said...

good job guys, but this time please make rom for one more. i want to come along. the he he

ob

Anonymous said...

went to the link:http://offroadershack.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18&mode=&order=0&thold=0

couldn't help it but would like to comment.
Publicity stunt? yes= to promote charity.
Personal glory? hmmm.... for some
Gratitude to those who helped? yes- for all they have done.
BUT.... not only to the selected few lah. Mesti adil lah. From what i read, the initial plan was to go to Kg Peta. Why change of plan? Becos Kg Peta was cut of. All road access were flooded. I wonder who went to recce and found the road flooded? Gratitude should be mentioned to the recce team otherwise the whole convoy would have wasted their time, on reaching Johor but unable to proceed to Kg Peta!!!!!!