MCA to launch disaster relief fund

The star News : Monday October 5, 2009
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/5/nation/4842412&sec=nation#

MUAR: MCA’s Crisis Relief Squad Malaysia (CRSM) will launch a disaster relief fund to help ease the plight of earthquake and typhoon victims in Padang, Sumatra, and the Philippines.

Its chairman Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said the fund would be launched by party president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat in Kuala Lumpur today.

Speaking to reporters here yesterday, she said the squad and party members sympathised with the victims in both countries, which had been hit by typhoons and earthquakes.

“We recently launched a donation drive to help victims in Taiwan which was hit by natural disaster and managed to collect RM70,000,” she said.

The collection, along with the party’s pledge of another RM100,000, would be presented to Taiwan’s representative in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, she said before opening a political education seminar organised by the Bakri MCA division yesterday.

Chew said CRSM could not send rescue and relief teams to Padang because they were not properly trained for such work.

However, she said the squad had a software programme for members to learn and how to act when faced with a natural disaster.

“We want all members to know what to do when faced with a tsunami, an earthquake or floods and how to conduct relief and rescue operations,” she added.