With thousands left homeless after massive floods ravaged the east coast, a group looks to green architecture to put roofs over the victims heads.

Containers are the main feature for Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka)’s ‘Sponsor a Home’ project to provide temporary homes for flood victims in Kelantan.

A concept gaining traction in Australia, United Kingdom and Europe, Peka said it first considered the idea to use containers as homes while working in Gaza, Palestine.

“So we tried to get this (done) in Gaza, but it is not possible because they don’t have ports.

“We have been playing with this idea for quite some time, now the opportunity arises, so (we want) to see this happen,” coordinator Roselina Hussein told Malaysiakini .

Each 500 square feet container home has a toilet, two rooms and a living room to accommodate two families.

Modification of the containers will be done in Port Klang, she said, so logistics would play a major role especially in transporting the container homes to locations, to be confirmed by the local authorities later.

Each container home will cost RM15,000 to build and transport, and the non-profit organisation hopes to raise enough funds to build 30 container homes by the end of March.

While RM15,000 per container is a large sum for temporary accommodation, Roselina said it would take much longer to raise enough funds to build permanent structures in the flood-hit areas which she described to be just like post-tsunami Acheh.

The container homes are the best option for an intermediate solution, she said, as flood evacuation centres can only accommodate limited victims, she said.

Peka is also working with other NGOs like The Telekung Project to raise funds and have received financial pledges from organisations like Persatuan Tadika Malaysia.

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CHAI JIAN MEI is a trainee reporter at Malaysiakini .

Visit Peka’s Facebook page or contact Roselina at 019-2772789 for more information on how to support the ‘Sponsor a Home’ project.