Malaysia to have its own disaster response depot

MALAYSIA will soon have its own National Humanitarian Response Depot which is expected to be operational by October, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the new depot was modelled after the World Food ProgrammeUnited Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (WFPUNHRD) in Subang, which manages humanitarian missions across the Asia Pacific.

The new depot was set up by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the Defence Ministry which allocated the current facility known as the Storage Defence Depot in Sungai Buloh, said Dr Ahmad Zahid.

He said the site was chosen due to its strategic location near the North-South Expressway, Skypark Terminal in Subang, Subang military airbase and Port Klang.

“The management of the depot will be handled by the current Sungai Buloh Storage Defence Depot staff as well as the logistics division of Nadma officers, until the appointment of officers for the new depot receive the green light from the Public Services Department,” said Dr Ahmad Zahid in a statement issued after chairing a National Disaster Management HighLevel Committee in Parliament.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the depot will also double up as a onestop centre to store food and basic items as well as assets for disaster management in the country.

“At the same time, it will serve as a logistics training centre for disaster management and humanitarian assistance at the international level,” said Dr Ahmad Zahid.

On a separate matter, he said Nadma, with the cooperation of Malaysia Remote Sensing Agency, had developed an elogistic system, to ensure disaster management can be carried out in a more systematic and effective manner.

“The elogistic system is a data bank that records logistic information that had been earlier identified by authorities.

“It will ease the management and mobilisation of vehicles,” he said.