The new homeless of Kuala Krai

Kampung Dusun Nyior in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, was almost wiped out in the recent floods. Many of its inhabitants are now homeless. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 8, 2015.

Besides his mother, all Mohd Zafian Abdullah could save was his grey cat, Labu. Everything else he owned, including his house, was destroyed in the worst floods to have hit Malaysia in decades.

The three of them now live in a makeshift tent, constructed from scrap metal and plastic sheeting.

Nearby, an elderly widow, Hasnah Mohamad, walks around her ruined village, talking to neighbours to pass the time. She has no house left to clean or belongings to salvage from the rubble, and being idle only makes her depressed.

As Putrajaya calculates the cost of the damage from the recent floods, the now-homeless villagers of Kampung Dusun Nyior in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, are setting up tents in their flattened village and bracing themselves for a future without any basic amenities.

The tiny village, tucked away in an oil palm estate and so remote that it cannot be found on maps, has been almost completely destroyed after Sungai Kelantan burst its banks and pounded their homes a fortnight ago.

Where wooden houses used to stand, flimsy tents made out of donated tarp, straw mats and planks have been erected to shelter the villagers who have nowhere else to go and no money to rebuild their homes.

Zalfian, 26, nudges an amber-eyed cat (which also goes by the name Puma) purring beside him. “I brought her with me to the relief centre, I couldn’t have just left the poor thing here when the flood hit.”

Home now is a small, raised metal platform built from a metal frame he scavenged at the nearby cemetery, while the plastic tarp over his head was donated.

His former home, he said, was buried somewhere under a mound of debris.

“All I do now is eat and sleep, and clear out the foundation. I don’t even know when I can start work because the stall that I used to work in was destroyed by the flood. Definitely not next month,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

“I’m all out of capital. So I’m just going to stay here in this ‘tent’ until and unless the government helps,” said Zafian, who makes and sells roti canai for a living.

Flat out, he rejected all possibility of building a new home with what meagre savings he has.

Food so far has not been a problem for the 50 or so villagers of Kampung Dusun Nyior, donations have come pouring in from NGOs and private individuals multiple times a day since the flood subsided last week.The floods muddied everyone’s possessions in Kampung Dusun Nyior, Kuala Krai, Kelantan. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 8, 2015.

But Hasnah, 60, cannot imagine what would become of her and her two children once the food supplies stop and she is left to fend for her family alone.

Their home was swept away by the flood’s merciless pull, so now she and her children – one who is blind and mentally disabled – live in one of the many tents scattering the ravaged village.

“I watched the flood swallow up my house with my own eyes that night. The water was like a huge wave. Furniture rose up, spinning in the rushing water. The water level was so high you could pluck the coconuts right from the boat.

“Now the water is gone, but I don’t know what we will do. It is all up to God. I just want the best for us. I just don’t want to have to go through that any more,” said Hasnah, breaking down in tears.

As she wiped the tears with a headscarf, Hasnah said she had no source of income apart from what her three other sons – who live in other states – sent to her, adding that she was praying for the government to help her rebuild her house.

“I have little money, very little money. Even before the flood hit, I only had enough to feed the three of us. I’ve been out of work for five years. My husband died on September 19, 1992.”

Life has only worsened for Hasnah since the floods. At night, she is only able to squeeze in a few hours of sleep in the cramped tent.

The mere sound of an engine spurting to life or of falling rain jolts her awake and arouses fear that another flood is coming.

During the day, with no house left to clean, Hasnah said that she spends her waking hours wandering around the village and talking to her neighbours.

“If I just sit still, I will feel stressed. So I walk around, I talk to other people, I cook for everyone,” she said, gesturing towards a kitchen stove resting on a table which stood out in the open.

Her neighbour, NoriaThe aftermath of one of the worst flooding episodes in Kampung Dusun Nyior, Kuala Krai, Kelantan. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 8, 2015.h Hussain, 63, is one of the few villagers whose house withstood the flood, but a quick tour of her ruined home revealed gaping holes in the floor and in the ceiling.

“I don’t think the house will survive much longer. The ceiling panels are falling off as we speak because they are weighed down by mud,” Noriah told The Malaysian Insider.

“I’m moving out, now I’m just waiting for my son to finish securing the tent.”

Noriah said her family had built the wooden house more than 30 years ago from scratch, and it was with a heavy heart that she now had to bid goodbye to it.

At first, she had thought she could continue living there and with the help of several volunteers, had managed to clear almost half of the thick mud that coated her floor using her own metal dining platters.

But with her house threatening to fall apart, Noriah, like her neighbours, is now counting on government aid to save her from living permanently on the streets.

“I don’t have much savings left. I’m widowed and I stopped working in the oil palm estates since 2006. If the government doesn’t help me, I will live like this until I die.”

Not a single villager in Kampung Dusun Nyior that The Malaysian Insider spoke to knew when the government would start providing aid to rebuild their homes, and none was optimistic that help was coming any time soon.

Should no help be forthcoming, they said they would simply live out the rest of their days in their tents.

- TMI