In a statement today, he said he understands the importance of cash for flood victims right now and noted that state governments have been giving out RM1,000 in Bantuan Wang Ihsan (BWI) payments since Monday.

“To this end, I have instructed the relevant parties to simplify payments without any bureaucracy or the need to fill out various forms,” he said.

He added that the total amount of assistance and facilities granted to flood victims comes up to RM1.4 billion.

Ismail said that the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) has already channelled the initial allocation of RM34 million in BWI to 11 states affected by the floods.

In addition, 25 beneficiaries have already received RM10,000 each as the next of kin of victims who perished in the floods.

He said that the housing and local government ministry has increased the number of contractors it has hired to expedite the work of collecting, cleaning and sending waste from the floods to landfills.

According to Ismail, the government has allocated an additional RM10 million to finance flood waste collection services as well as to clean up roads, public facilities and victims’ homes.

As of yesterday, a total of 3,000 tonnes of flood waste had been cleared in the four states and federal territories which were worst-hit by the floods, namely Selangor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur.