Malaysians doing their part in Aussie bushfire crisis

PETALING JAYA: As raging bushfires devastate Down Under, Malaysians in the country are doing their part to help out where they can.

Taking to social media, some are starting donation drives to help communities in New South Wales and Victoria which have been driven out of their homes.

Yin Yin Loh, who is living in a Melbourne suburb, is not directly affected by the fires but she felt that she has a responsibility to help those in need.

“We live in Australia and I guess if we were in their shoes, I wouldn’t know how to pull myself up,” she said while sobbing during a telephone interview.

Yin, who is a real estate agent, said the air quality in her area remains good, unlike in many parts of Melbourne’s city centre.

She had volunteered to deliver goods to a branch of the CFA (Country Fire Authority) and was overwhelmed by the response to her posts in several Facebook groups.

Strangers shopped and dropped the necessities at her house.

Yin, originally from Klang, has made three trips in her seven-seater car to drop off the donated goods to CFA, located about an hour away.

Yin said she was happy to help because when she moved to Australia 14 years ago, she had received government social security payments, some of which were even backdated.

“Everybody is playing a part. It doesn’t matter if they are Australian, Malaysian or any other nationality,” she said, adding that she has made some new friends.

Other Malaysians in Australia were coordinating donations for local rescue services on social media.

According to media reports, a total of 24 people have been killed and almost 2,000 homes destroyed in the bushfires that have ravaged three Australian states, burning about five million hectares of land.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Malaysia was ready to extend assistance to Australia.

This includes the deployment of National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) personnel, the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) and

assets to help put out the fires and to support rescue operations in Australia.

A Malaysian in Melbourne, Nirmal Singh, said the air quality in his area was very poor and the sky was hazy.

“Visibility is only one kilometre, so we are affected in that manner. Also, due to extreme heat, some of our plants have died,” he said.

Another Malaysian, Manoj Dewa, who is based in Sydney, said that some days were “smoky” and worse than the haze experienced in Malaysia at times.

“Sometimes you get a thin coat of ash on the car overnight,” he said, adding that he would avoid going outside and that windows had to be closed.

Source: TheStar