JOHOR BAHRU, March 6 — The Menteri Besar of Johor Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi today made an appeal to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to consider a moratorium of between three to six months for flood victims in the state.

Onn Hafiz said the initiative would help ease the burden of the people who may have suffered huge losses due to the floods.

"It is the state government’s sincere hope that flood victims be given a moratorium for a certain period. Disasters like floods would certainly leave a trail of distruction and many will suffer huge losses due to damages to their belongings like furniture, vehicles, electrical items as well as property,” he said in a Facebook statement tonight.

He added that farmers and breeders also suffer heavy losses during major floods.

Onn Hafiz said the people of Johor were facing very challenging times since the floods had affected the state twice this year.

The first wave of floods in Johor from Jan 24 to Feb 10, involved eight districts and affected about 5,000 families while the second wave which started on March 1, has resulted in 40,129 victims being moved to temporary flood relief centres as of 8 pm today, according to the State Disaster Management committee. — Bernama