Kuala Lumpur: Sabah will get a Sealegs Amphibious boat to ensure more efficient relief efforts during floods. The boats, which could be deployed either on land or water, would also be sent to Kelantan (two) and Sarawak (one).Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim said the Government would go all out in preparing to face the floods even if small scale floodings are expected to occur.
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He said the experience in facing the floods in 2014 had taught the government and relevant authorities, particularly the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (MCDF) to be better prepared as the severity of disaster could be unpredictable."Although the Malaysian Meteorological Department foresees there will not be a major flood this time, after what we had gone through we are prepared for the worst," he said. He was speaking at a press conference after witnessing the handover of six Sealegs Amphibious rescue boats to MCDF from the National Disaster Agency (Nadma) here Monday.
As secretariat of the national level Disaster Management and Assistance Centre Committee (JPBBP), he said MCDF had conducted preparedness exercises involving other security agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to ensure all parties were ready should a disaster strike.Shahidan said MCDF had also conducted aid and evacuation simulation in states expected to be hit by floods such as in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
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He said in managing the flood situation, a new approach of evacuating prior to flooding would be adopted, as practised in several developed countries like in Japan. "We will implement this new approach and will not tolerate residents who refuse to evacuate as the move is for their own safety," he said. He said 382 boats, 96 lorries and 141 four-wheel drive vehicles were on standby and 11,800 personnel were ready to be despatched within the first three hours of disaster.
