Floods: Kelantan villagers hold 'gotong-royong' to clean each other's houses

By Habsah Ismail

KOTA BHARU, Jan 9 -- More than 200 villagers of Kampung Pantai Mek Mas, here, have come together for a ‘gotong-royong’ to clean each other’s houses as soon as the floodwaters abated this morning.

Starting work at 7 am the villagers managed to clean 30 houses before stopping at 5 pm.

Cleaning works will continue tomorrow.

One of the villagers, Zulkifli Yusof, 47, said working together like this not only facilitates and speeds up the cleaning process but also strengthens the ties among the villagers.

“After the floods, the most important tool is water jets, but not everyone owns it, so we decided to share.

“After cleaning our own houses, we help our neighbours who have yet to finish cleaning theirs,” he said when met here, today.

On Wednesday, the village was inundated under almost one-metre of floodwaters.

"As soon as floodwaters started to enter the back of the house on Wednesday, my family and I could not sleep at all and had to stay alert to monitor the water level," he said.

According to Maznah Hamzah, 53, ‘gotong-royong’ was a normal practice during the monsoon season in the village as well as in several other villages where residents would work together to clean each other’s houses and clear clogged drains.

-- BERNAMA