MERCY Malaysia Activates Local Flood Response and Assists Sri Lanka Floods

31 January 2011 - MERCY Malaysia has activated its domestic floods response mechanisms to provide aid to the flood victims in Johor and Sarawak, as well as supporting the flood response overseas in Sri Lanka.

 

“Our volunteers in Johor are working closely with Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) to assist the flood survivors there; they are packing 500 hygiene kits bound for Setia Alam today, and another 500 kits will be distributed to other affected areas,” said MERCY Malaysia President, Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus.

 

“We have been monitoring all the responses very closely, both locally and overseas. Since 23 January 2011, through our Sarawak Chapter, we have distributed a total of 900 hygiene kits to the affected communities in Niah, Asap, Beluru and Bakung, as flood survivors are susceptible to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea,” he said.

 

On another note, the MERCY Malaysia team in Sri Lanka has been actively involved on the ground since they arrived on 19 January. According to the General Manager of Operations, Ms Takako Izumi, the flood assessment and response is carried out in collaboration with the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) -a local implementing partner for MERCY Malaysia in Sri Lanka- after the government of Sri Lanka issued an international appeal on 24 January 2011.

 

“Apart from providing aid to the flood victims now, we hope to continue assisting the affected communities after the floods subside,” said Dato’ Dr Ahmad Faizal.

 

“For Sri Lanka, we have allocated a budget for 1,000 hygiene kits to be distributed to affected communities in Ampara and Batticaloa through appointed local organisations, and we will conduct health assessments with the local authorities to further identify the needs of the survivors. The kit will enable flood survivors maintain good personal hygiene and mitigate the spread of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and skin-related illnesses,” he added.

 

According to the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre, the floods have damaged over 34,000 houses, and have affected over 1 million families.

 

Concerned individuals and organisations can donate to the General Humanitarian Fund through the following bank accounts:

MAYBANK (account name: MERCY HUMANITARIAN FUND, account number : 5621-7950-4126, ABA Swift Code: MBBEMYKLA), or


CIMB Bank (account name: MERCY Malaysia, account number: 1424-000-6561053, ABA Swift Code: CIBBMYKL).

Donations via cheques are payable to MERCY MALAYSIA.

To donate online, please visit www.mercy.org.my.

 

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About MERCY Malaysia

 

MERCY Malaysia is a non‐profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health-related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and non-crisis situations. MERCY Malaysia recognises the value of working with partners and volunteers as well as providing opportunities for individuals to serve with professionalism. We uphold the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and hold ourselves accountable to our donors and beneficiaries. As a non‐profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue our services to provide humanitarian assistance to our beneficiaries.

 

 

For further information, kindly contact:

Juanita Johari, General Manager, Communications and Fundraising, MERCY Malaysia

Level 2, Podium Block, City Point, KompleksDayabumi, Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin, 50050 KL.

T: 6-03-2273 3999, F: 6-03-2272 3812, E: juanita@mercy.org.my W: www.mercy.org.my

 

 

 

Important Note to Media: Usage of Wordmark MERCY Malaysia

 

In order to avoid confusion with other organisation(s) that uses “Mercy” as the organisation’s name or part of the organisation’s name, please take note that in addressing the name of our organisation, the wordmark for MERCY Malaysia is with capitalised “MERCY”, followed by the word “Malaysia”. When describing the organisation, the term “MERCY Malaysia” must always be used in full, and should not be partially referred to as “MERCY”, or “Mercy”. Thank you for your cooperation.