KUALA LUMPUR – Fire and Rescue Department personnel have been instructed to distribute food to flood victims as part of their rescue efforts, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
He said although the department was mainly tasked with carrying out rescue operations during disasters, they will now also assist in distributing food provisions to those in need.
Reezal said usually the food was handed out at flood relief centres and by local volunteer firefighter groups, but the department needed to adapt to the current situation.
He also said that food provisions for victims were not part of the department’s budget, but he has asked for the standard operating procedures to change.
“Surely extraordinary situations require extraordinary ways of how we address them,” Reezal told a press conference this evening.
“It is time for the firefighters to hand out food to those stranded on rooftops as sometimes those who have been cut off for more than 12 hours asked for food first. This could be a blindspot so I have asked them to supply food as well.”
Reezal added that food will also be given to victims who are stranded in their vehicles on highways and roads.
He said a total of 4,819 Fire and Rescue Department personnel have been deployed to assist flood victims in Kelantan, Selangor, Terengganu, Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, and Melaka.
He said Selangor alone had 1,855 personnel from 35 stations in seven zones.
Reezal also said he has instructed his ministry and local authorities to provide swift damage assessment to carry out repair work on public facilities and housing areas that were damaged by the flood.
He also said SWCorp, which oversees solid waste and public cleansing management, will direct its concessionaires to provide assistance to houses affected on a corporate social responsibility basis. – The Vibes, December 19, 2021
