Zahid: Disaster a lesson for everyone
KEPALA BATAS: The flood disaster that hit Penang, Kedah, Perlis and northern Perak is a lesson for the whole country, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“If theMeteorological Department had alerted the National Disaster Committee earlier, preparations to save flood victims could have been done faster.
“It is not to point fingers at anyone. We are not blaming anybody but Penang was not ready because the information was shared late.
“What happened here is a lesson for everyone,” Dr Ahmad Zahid said yesterday.
At 3.30am on Sunday, when the storm was at its strongest and floodwaters were over 3m high in central Seberang Prai, Penang’s disaster teams could not rescue people quickly enough and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng telephoned Dr Ahmad Zahid to request military assistance.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the Meteorological Department had been utilising a new technology and produced data that forecast weather changes from November to February.
“All of this data is new technology and if it is not utilised, then preparation cannot be done.”
He said storms were expected in the northern and central regions of Perak.
“The storm may spread to the east coast, and even north and central Johor.
“It is expected to reach Sabah and Sarawak by December or January,” he said at SK Bertam Indah here after visiting flood victims sheltering at the school.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the National Disaster Committee would use the Kemaman Template (used to plan for floods).
Named after a town in Terengganu that is hit almost annually by serious floods, he said it outlined a methodology where planning for flood disaster is done a week before the predicted date and physical preparations are deployed three days early.
After visiting three flood relief centres in Penang, Dr Ahmad Zahid said that on a scale of one to 10, he rated the state’s readiness at seven.
“I cancelled seven programmes to come today and see the preparations for myself.
“My worry is that more heavy rain has been forecast. There will be a second and third round.
“Preparations need to be at 100%. Even if it does not happen, the equipment can be deployed to areas where floods are predicted to happen,” he said.
Also present were Lim, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim.
The Deputy Prime Minister advised them to ensure that all flood victims in the northern region were registered by 10am today.
“We want to look into providing financial aid for them quickly.
“In the past, I discovered that aid was disbursed so late that victims only received the money during the next flood,” he added.