PENANG, 12 December 2013 - Long-term programmes after natural disasters such as flooding will soon be developed to assist the process of rehabilitation of the victims.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato’ Dr Omar Osman said this during his launching of a project this morning involving a group of USM volunteers heading to the East Coast to assist flood victims there.

“To develop long-term programmes, volunteers are also asked to identify what further contributions can be provided in terms of infrastructure development, particularly among engineering students,” Omar said.

He said that we can work together in leveraging the existing expertise and also the ability to mobilise volunteers from USM and other public institutions of higher learning involving a variety of disciplines and expertise, so as not to only rely on government agencies to do the job of reconstruction after floods and other natural disasters.

This cooperation should involve all parties through long-term planning in managing recovery and reconstruction after a disaster, nationally and worldwide.

The implementation plans and the intention to help people on the East Coast will be achieved through this effort. More than 20 staff members have agreed to participate and many more are expected to join those from the Penang Coordination and Implementation Unit, a USM Health Campus medical team, together with more 200 students in this voluntary mission.

“USM is financing the trip and the effort entirely with the primary aim to jointly help victims to recover after the disaster, even though there are some who wanted to go there when the floods first hit,” the Vice-Chancellor added.

A collection of RM15,000 from students will be used to provide direct assistance to flood victims while the collection among staff that will be used to help about 30 students and their families who were involved in the flood is expected to reach around RM30,000. USM staffs involved in volunteer work were granted leave from work.

Omar also thanked the students and volunteers who are involved in this noble mission. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Text: Mohamad Abdullah/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa