PUTRAJAYA, Dec 6 — A total of 267 telecommunications towers affected by the recent floods have been restored and are operational as at 9am today, while 56 towers remain offline, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
He said 323 towers were impacted by floods across four states — 264 in Kelantan, 49 in Terengganu, nine in Pahang, and one in Johor.
The floods also disrupted operations at 91 National Information Dissemination Centres; of those, 81 have resumed operations, while 10 are still not functional, Fahmi added.
He also said that as at 9am today, 120 temporary relief centres remain open.
“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has installed free Wi-Fi at 23 relief centres to assist evacuees. The MCMC continues to remain on high alert to ensure swift action on telecommunications issues in the event of future floods,” he told a press conference today.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching is en route to Raub, Pahang, with an MCMC team to assist with post-flood cleanup and telecommunications issues in the area.
He said the MCMC is conducting daily reviews to monitor and update the status of affected telecommunications towers to ensure they are promptly restored.
Fahmi also said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi reported during today’s Cabinet meeting that the cumulative number of flood victims nationwide has surpassed 222,000, affecting 70,706 families.
At the peak, over 150,000 flood evacuees were sheltered at relief centres.
However, as at noon today, the number of evacuees decreased significantly to 25,599 across 96 relief centres, Fahmi added.
— Bernama
