At the last meeting with the National Security Council, it was agreed that there were no more victims living in tents since the state government had prepared special placement areas for flood victims in the state, he said.

“Earlier investigations found that some victims refused to move into temporary shelters at the National Service Training Programme camps and chose to live in tents as by doing so, they hoped their houses would be completed much sooner.

“Secondly, these victims are not supposed to be beneficiaries of the new permanent houses,” he told reporters after attending a state executive council meeting, here, today.

According to the Auditor-General’s Report 2015, Series 1, released today. the overall performance of the new permanent housing projects for flood victims was unsatisfactory as 40% or 557 of the 1,395 housing units were still not completed as of March 30.

The report on the National Disaster Management Agency said 557 victims and their families in five states that were hit by floods in 2014 were still living in transit homes, tents and so on.

At the end of 2014, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Sabah were hit by massive floods which led to significant property damage, loss of life and forced displacement.

Following the incident, the government decided that 1,395 houses, which were completely destroyed in the floods, would be replaced with new permanent houses, while 5,544 damaged houses would be given assistance to be restored.

– BERNAMA