Malaysia has allocated 70 million ringgit (US$18.42 million) to meet the housing needs of the tsunami victims in Kedah and Penang, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has announced.

The money would be used to repair houses damaged by the Dec. 26tsunami and build transit as well as permanent houses for the victims, the deputy prime minister told reporters after launching a people's housing project in Tanjung, central state of Selangor, on Saturday.

Najib said 402 damaged houses would be repaired and 166 transit houses and 166 permanent houses would be built at a cost of 21.2 million ringgit (US$5.57 million) in Kedah State.

In Penang State, 525 damaged houses would be repaired and 88 transit houses and 900 permanent houses would be built at a cost of 47.9 million ringgit (US$12.6 million), he added.

Najib said the 70 million ringgit (US$18.42 million) allocation comprised some money from the National Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund made up of donations from the people and an allocation from the government.

He also said that the government would act immediately in the matter, and that the repairs to the damaged houses would take about one and half months while the permanent houses would be up in about 12 months. The transit houses were almost ready.

The tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake in Indian Ocean near Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26, hit several states on Malaysian west coast, claiming 68 people and destroying hundreds of houses in the southeast country.

 (Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2005)