Sarawak plays host to 11th Ex Storm for Disaster Management

KUCHING: Fire and Rescue Department ( Bomba) Sarawak played host to the 11th Exercise Special Team Operations and Response Mechanism ( Ex Storm) for Disaster Management.

The disaster simulation exercise was held here for the first time and took place at an abandoned factory in Kota Samarahan yesterday. It will be held again today.

According to senior enforcement officer (operations) Yusri Basri from Putrajaya, the main objective of the exercise was to evaluate how well the state Bomba and other related rescue teams respond to big-scale disasters.

“This is a simulation exercise for big- scale disasters at various levels. Besides fire, the personnel involved will be managing disasters such as building collapse, hazardous materials accidents and others.

“It involves several agencies namely Bomba, police, Public Defence Department (JPAM), Health Department, Army, Rela and many others. Over 300 personnel are taking part, including 200 Bomba personnel.

“Another objective of the simulation exercise is to enhance the coordination and communication between all related agencies during a big-scale disaster as different teams have different roles and disciplines,” he told The Borneo Post at the training site yesterday.

Yusri said such simulation exercise had been done regularly since 2010.

“This is actually the fourth exercise this year, but it is the first time it is held in Sarawak.

“An exercise like this will take about six to eight hours to complete. We have a safety crew on standby in case the simulation gets out of control.

“We hope such exercise will be a platform for better interagencies cooperation when it comes to handling disasters,” he said, adding that the team had been setting up since last Friday after they had permission to use the abandoned factory.