KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — When Tengku Nor Azah Tengku Mahmood decided to capitalise on her Kelantanese roots by starting the “Kelate Flying Breakfast” venture here, little did she know that her little endeavour would end up helping thousands in her home state brave through one of the country’s worst flood crises in decades.
Since floodwaters hit Kelantan last week, Azah, or Cik Jah as she is fondly known back home, has been tirelessly working to collect donations, purchase and pack food and other supplies, and personally deliver them to those badly affected by the disaster.
Using the same modus operandi as the “Kelate Flying Breakfast”, Azah and her team of “supers” as she calls them have so far delivered close to 5,000kgs of supplies ranging from food to toiletries to more than 10 severely-affected areas.
The team of “supers” comprises Azah’s family and close friends, all of whom banded together over the space of just a few hours last Tuesday when desperate pleas for help from flood victims began flooding social media sites and various other communication platforms.
“All our phones just kept buzzing from all the SOS messages from our friends and acquaintances back home.
“I was so frustrated with the way the crisis was being handled and I was venting on my family’s Whatsapp chat group when one my cousins jumped in and suggested that we do something about it,” Azah told Malay Mail Online.
“And there, everyone started offering their help… and there, organised between ourselves on what needs to be done and how we were going to do it.
“I call them super volunteers… why super? Because we are going guerilla. We have no game plan. We are making decisions on the fly,” said the former investment banker.
Azah started by reviving the “Save East Coast Revive Kelantan” cash donation drive—which she had started last year to raise funds for flood-prone Kelantan — and asking for a minimum of RM10 from her 7,000 Kelate Flying Breakfast fans.
By the morning of Christmas eve, she had receive RM3,000 in donations.
The first of the donations were used to buy the first round of supplies, she said. Soon, the collections snowballed as more stepped up, offering to contribute food and other essentials.
As donations and volunteers began to pour in, the opportunity arose to expand her little project.
But Azah said she cautioned volunteers on Facebook that she is a “control freak who dislikes red tape, empty suggestions and slow, annoying people.”
“We need to execute fast but wisely, and this is not a platform untuk jadi glemer... please jange ambik kesempatan [to become glamourous, so don’t take advantage].
“We have no intention to take over any authorities’ jobs, we are here to complement. And being a Kelantanese thoroughbred, I feel very deeply for my beloved state Kelantan,” she also posted, fending off criticisms accusing her of trying to show off.
To transport the aid to flood victims, Azah resorted to using the same method she uses to deliver her “Kelate Flying Breakfast” goodies to city dwellers here—flying them to Kelantan via Firefly Airlines.
She said she convinced Firefly to join in on her goodwill venture and the airlines agreed to fly the supplies over using whatever available cargo space it has in all its 11 flights to Kota Baru. The supplies were then redistributed to relief centres in Kelantan by trucks.
But at that point, rising floodwaters had already blocked off access routes to relief centres.
Unhindered, Azah put up notices to advertise her need to charter private helicopters with the capacity to carry 800kgs worth of supplies. The travel cost was an estimated minimum of RM7,500 an hour, she said.
After repeated appeals, the team managed to secure several helicopters at discounted rates. Azah copied out the coordinates of relief centres and areas blocked off by the torrential downpour and personally set out to make the deliveries.
On Sunday, Azah and one of the volunteers made five trips, each time carrying 500kgs of supplies, on choppers to the flood ravaged locations.
“It breaks my heart… this is huge. Looking at it from up here, it is like the state has been hit by a tsunami, but without the actual tsunami,” said Azah after her first helicopter trip.
“What is being done by the government is not enough… the state of my home today is the result of slow response,” she lamented.
As at 5pm today, the total number of evacuees surged to 233,147 in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Perlis, Selangor, and Kedah from just under 100,000 yesterday.
A total of 14 deaths have also been recorded to date, according to data from the National Security Council published on its website.
