SHAH ALAM, March 21 — The Selangor Disaster Management Unit at the district level should be strengthened as preparation for the state to face larger scale disasters especially floods in future.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said at the moment the disaster committee management will only be activated at the committee level and there are no ‘intact’ units at the district level.
“As such when a large scale disaster (flood) occurs on December 18 to December 21, the disaster unit (UPNS) could not be mobilised to the locality. Boosting the unit at the district level is a much-needed asset,” he said.
Amirudin told the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting today when commenting on the Statement of the Select Committee on Local Authorities (JP-PBT) for the Selangor Assembly regarding the flood disaster in December 2021 in the state.
Following the incident, Amirudin said the state government ordered local authorities to buy assets that could be used by the Selangor Special Action Squad (Pantas) especially to launch search and rescue at the grassroots level.
Apart from that, Amirudin said the state government also wanted to improve the roles of Pantas, especially from their capability to hold joint training with the Civil Defence Force (APM).
Amirudin said the state government is also proposing to station assets in a safe place with easy access in the event of a disaster as well as officers who will be deployed in sufficient numbers during the monsoon season or an expected disaster.
“It means around October to December, the preparation and on-call stage must be ready. There is no reason for the delay because there was a little delay or confusion that arose on December 17 and December 18, which had a huge impact and the number of casualties was also very heartbreaking, ” he said
— Bernama
