By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Oct 6 — The Subang Jaya City Council (MBSJ) has increased its Special Action Squad (Pantas) with more members as part of the measures taken to prepare for potential flooding during the northeast monsoon.
Its mayor Datuk Johary Anuar said the move would strengthen the squad as it now has 65 personnel, who are ready to be deployed at any time during the monsoon season.
“All of the Pantas squad members have taken part in the recent simulation training for water rescue disaster management and will be deployed to locations that are hit by a disaster.
“However, the disaster operations does not only involve the squad and will also be assisted by other security personnel depending on the impact of the disaster,” he said to the media during MBSJ’s disaster relief operation workshop at Dewan Serbaguna MBSJ in USJ 7, here yesterday.
The workshop involved the participation of 150 people from the community as well as uniformed and government bodies.
Commenting on the local council’s preparations of assets, Johary said they have inspected and maintained its six four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles, transport truck (three), bus (one), vans (two), backhoes (two), Roll-On-Roll-Off trucks (six) and one skylift.
“We have also prepared five lifeboats, one each of an inflatable and aluminium boat with engines, while the other three are aluminium boats without engines,” he said.
On September 28, the state government held a disaster simulation programme that focused on the communication aspect between agencies during rescue operations should a flood occur at the end of this year.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the programme also reviewed and updated the standard operating procedure (SOP) in line with the National Security Council (NSC) directive.
A total of 343 participants from 67 agencies took part in the programme to ensure all parties are prepared with their services, equipment and assets.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) predicted that Selangor will face a shift from a southwest monsoon to the northeast monsoon that will result in a rainfall rate of between 100 and 400 millimetres (mm) from the middle of September until December.
