KAJANG, Oct 5 — As many as 2,594 areas nationwide have been identified as being at risk of flooding this monsoon season based on disaster statistics recorded last year and the year before.
Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM) chief commissioner Datuk Aminurrahim Mohamed said that periodic monitoring will be carried out if the weather conditions are erratic or prolonged heavy rain falls.
“To ensure APM is always ready, all operational assets are maintained according to schedule to be used during operations.
“APM currently has a total of 753 boats with engines and 481 land vehicles such as four-wheel drive, ambulances and five-tonne lorries which are ready to be used during disasters,” he told Bernama recently.
At the same time, up to now, 10,510 APM officers and personnel nationwide have been given training to ensure they are always ready to be mobilised to face the northeast monsoon, which is expected to start this November.
Aminurrahim said all leave of APM personnel will also be frozen, but flexibility will be given in the case of emergency or unavoidable situations.
In preparing for this monsoon season, the government has also improved disaster facilities, including ensuring that the temporary relief centre (PPS) is always sufficient to accommodate the number of flood evacuees in a locality.
He said thus far, there are 6,192 relief centres available nationwide consisting of schools and community centres which can accommodate more than 1.6 million evacuees.
“Last year, the northeast monsoon had a very extraordinary impact, especially in Johor, and based on data from the state Disaster Management Committee, the loss was estimated to reach more than RM1.3 billion, covering the value of public assets, business premises and government assets,” he said.
At the same time, Aminurrahim also reminded the public always to be vigilant of developments and weather information from authentic sources and be prepared to evacuate if instructed to do so by the authorities.
— Bernama
