Disaster Relief in Kota Bharu – Day One

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The Road to Building a House

After the Rainforest Challenge, 4×4 RELIEF MALAYSIA let us tag along on one of their many relief operations.  The crew is made up of off road enthusiasts with a network of skills they put to good use. In this case building a house for a family of nine in Kota Bharu, who lost everything in the monsoon floods. Kota Bharu has a very special history in World War II – the house is about 2 km from where this happened in 1941.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasion_of_Malaya

Briefing Briefing! It always starts with a briefing on who is doing what, when and where. The convoy left a truck stop late Friday night in Kuala Lumpur heading for a quick overnight camp and then off to work.

The distances are not that far, about 400 clicks, many one lane roads with all sorts of traffic. As convoy rules applied, we were number 4 in the line up. Being a left hand drive in a right hand drive country meant that we could not see to overtake as well as others in the convoy. The forward-facing cameras are perfect for small side road, but at above 70 km per hour on a busy-ish road a copilot is a must!

Off to Kota Bharu

The convoy halts late Friday night for a few hours of sleep. More volunteers join in!  The morning after a long drive with not much sleep, we had a quick breakfast and of course COFFEE.  Then back on the road to Kota Bharu. Lance and Michelle felt a little bit guilty as their accommodations were, let’s say… nice!

The advanced team had dropped off two quick fabricated work site offices. These would form the base for the house.  As once an apprentice plumber Lance was glad to see the Color Bond roof sheeting was being used.

Prefabricated trusses were donated by a metal fabrication shop. Wong’s welding crew happily gave up there weekend to put it all together. The quality of welding with an ancient stick welder was very impressive!

EarthCruiser “Alpha” served as the headquarters and assembly point for the operation.

A family runs a small road side restaurant, very common throughout Malaysia. In Kota Bharu Saffron Fried Chicken was the specialty and in other words, sensational! They kept the willing workers fed all hours of the day and night. Kota Bharu Saffron Fried Chicken is the specialty and not to be missed!

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