Mercy Malaysia Deploys 4th Team To Lombok, Plans To Build 1,000 Temporary Shelters

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) – Mercy Malaysia is hoping to quickly build 1,000 temporary houses for the earthquake victims in Indonesia’s Lombok Island, which was devastated by two earthquakes recently. Exco member Norazam Ab Samah said meanwhile 20 emergency shelters have been set up to cater to the needy. Another 100 units of these emergency shelters are expected to be set up for the needy within this week from Lombok’s capital Kota Maram to North Lombok, said Norazam, an architect by profession who has been working with Mercy Malaysia for 20 years. He said the cost to build the 1,000 temporary houses will be about RM500,000 and they are expected to be completed within two months, with the focus to be in the most-affected areas of north Lombok. Speaking at a press conference Monday, he said eight workers will be required to build one unit of the temporary house, and it can be built in three hours. The house will be able to accommodate up to 11 people at a given time will last for three years. Norazam said Mercy Malaysia will be also deploying a fourth team, to be led by himself to assist and help the earthquake victims with the cooperation of its local partner PKPU Human Initiative. So far, Mercy Malaysia has provided two water tanks that could fill up about 1,040 litres of water from a well and supply clean water to about 400 people in the affected area. On Aug 5, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Lombok island. It was the second following an earlier earthquake of 6.4 magnitude on July 29. A total of 576 aftershocks have been also recorded as of Saturday. The death toll currently stands at 401 people while more than 387,000 people have been affected. -- BERNAMA