KUALA LUMPUR: Permanent Disaster Relief Centres will be established around the country immediately, with the pilot project to begin in nine states, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said each centre will have a ceiling cost of RM5mil and will provide better protection for flood victims than temporary relief centres.
"We are faced with floods every year, it's unreasonable to only have temporary centres, that's why the government decided to set up the permanent centres.
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"So, these can perhaps also be a community activity centre (outside the flood season) but is reserved (to deal with floods),” he said during Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Nov 28).
He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Shamshulkahar Mohd Deli (BN-Jempol) as to whether or not the government has plans and actions to improve basic flood relief facilities nationwide.
In reply to Shamshulkahar's original question about the government’s preparedness for flood disasters and the North-east Monsoon season, Anwar said an early allocation of RM241mil had been channelled for use in 164 districts.
He said pre-flood preparations had been stepped up through community-based disaster risk management and the Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) had identified 5,648 flood hotspots.
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"Maintenance works have been carried out, in addition to activating operations control rooms, forecast centres and flood warning systems which will operate 24 hours. We have also placed 73 mobile pumps at flood hotspots nationwide as well as upgraded the flood warning siren and web camera stations,” he said.
According to Anwar, 66,169 officers and personnel from various branches of government agencies at all levels are on standby.
These comprise the Malaysian Armed Forces, police, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Force and the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela), with the support of 25,440 units of various assets.
Anwar said the Social Welfare Department is also ready to activate 8,481 temporary relief centres which can accommodate 1,620,855 evacuees nationwide.
Anwar said what is more important in dealing with floods is ensuring all mitigation projects nationwide are immediately implemented.
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"There are now six projects on schedule, (and) dozens of other projects are in the final lap to be operational in one or two months throughout the peninsula and also Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
In reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PN-Rantau Panjang) about the special allocation for parliamentary areas that are frequently hit by floods, Anwar said Kelantan has been given priority since its flood situation is more severe.
"This includes Phase Two of the Sungai Kelantan Integrated River Basin Development Project and Kota Baru flood mitigation plan, which may begin in a month.
"The meeting with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin yesterday (Monday, Nov 27) also agreed to speed up the construction and maintenance of the bridge at Sungai Golok-Rantau Panjang in a bid to ease flood concerns,” he said.
On Monday, Anwar made a working visit to Sadao in Thailand's Songkhla Province to discuss bilateral cooperation with his Thai counterpart.
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On assistance for flood-hit farmers and breeders, Anwar said there is already a provision for this group, but the government would ensure the state, district and Federal machinery provided reasonable compensation to victims.
On Malaysia's preparedness to adopt technology in tackling floods, as raised by Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar), Anwar said the country had already reached an agreement with the Netherlands to cooperate in that aspect.
"However, the Netherlands held an election recently, (and) the prime minister who previously agreed has resigned after the extreme right group won and it is not very encouraging for us. I will contact the new prime minister to find out about their commitment regarding the cooperation,” he said. – Bernama
