Sabah disaster relief SOP need to be improved — Rahman
KOTA BELUD: The Sabah Disaster Relief Committee’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in flood management needs to be improved into a more systematic and organised disaster management coordination in the future.
Minister in the Prime Minster’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the steps would include immediately activating flood relief centres in the affected districts, mobilising volunteers to collaborate on disaster monitoring, as well as providing daily aid to victims in advance, for their comfort.
“The disaster committee shall no longer use the precautionary measures but must immediately activate the flood relief centres, volunteers and collect daily necessities when they are informed of the flooded areas and aware of possible continuous rain based on the weather forecasts.
“Currently, volunteers and aid collections will only be mobilised after the relief centre is open and this will cause chaos, as by right, matters relating to comfort of the flood victims need to be prepared before the first victim is evacuated,” he told reporters when met after launching the Kota Belud Post-Flood Relief Mission yesterday.
Abdul Rahman also planned to bring several disaster committee members and volunteers, especially from Kota Belud to visit Kemaman, Terengganu, to look into the district flood management methods, as he understood that Kemaman had the best SOP for flood management.
In the event, about 400 volunteers from Kota Belud and Kuala Lumpur carried out cleaning works in the area of the religious school and mosque in Kampung Sembirai Tempaus and Kampung Linau that were affected by the recent floods.
At the ceremony, Abdul Rahman, who is also Kota Belud Member of Parliament, approved a RM500,000 allocation to rehabilitate the Kampung Sembirai Tempaus mosque, apart from giving out assistance in the form of boats and engines for the two affected villages.