TAIPING – The Civil Defence Force (APM) is making preparations to face the monsoon season, with the likelihood of floods in several states in the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak amid the challenging Covid-19 pandemic.
APM chief commissioner Datuk Roslan Wahab said the APM, in its role as the Disaster Management Committee secretariat, has set the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for flood disaster operations during the Northeast Monsoon between November and March next year.
"The SOPs include taking the temperature of flood evacuees, ensuring all rescue personnel and evacuees wear masks, enforcing social distancing in boats and temporary flood evacuation centres.
"Personal protective equipment (PPE) is compulsory if there are patients under surveillance (PUS) who have to be evacuated during floods before being isolated from other evacuees in the centre,” he said after receiving a drone that will assist in search-and-rescue operations in Perak at the Taping APM office from an associate officer today.
He said the drone, which has a flight capacity of 3km and is equipped with voice broadcasting, is ready for use at any time for APM search-and-rescue operations in Perak.
Roslan said the APM has also mobilised its assets for the flood season, with 900 boats of various sizes available throughout the country and a lorry that can drive through floodwaters as high as 1.52m.
"The assets mobilised will depend on the situation… we will use small boats for floods in towns because of the depth.
"We also hope to obtain a small, three-tonne lorry because a larger vehicle will hamper the team’s effort to enter villages with small lanes and wooded areas," he said.
On manpower needs, he said APM will submit a request for permanent staff to the Public Service Department as the number of such staff in each district is at a minimum, and only 20,000 APM volunteers are active throughout the country from a total of two million registered volunteers. – Bernama, November 21, 2020
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