A TOTAL of 29,103 officers and members of the Fire and Rescue Department, together with 1,070 assets are ready to be mobilised to face any disasters.

Department director-general Mohammad Hamdan Wahid said it included 1,065 light transport vehicles, 127 heavy vehicles and 403 marine vessels as well as five helicopters for disaster monitoring, evacuation and assistance during floods.

He said the three aircraft are placed in Subang Selangor with one each in Bertam, Penang and Miri in Sarawak.

“The state departments should be prepared to receive orders from the Operation Management Centre to organise the movement of resources and logistics to the forward bases or flood-affected states.

“Apart from that, human resources and logistics would also be deployed from states not hit by floods as instructed by the centre within one hour upon receiving the order,” he told Bernama recently.

Hamdan said a freeze on leave would also be carried out in stages involving 80% of officers and members.

He said there are 5,496 locations nationwide identified as flood-risk areas while 186 locations were identified as water surge-risk areas.

Meanwhile, Selangor director Norazam Khamis said the state department had listed six management elements to deal with floods in the state, including a 50% addition in vehicles comprising 43 units of boats and 64 units of various watercraft.

“The Selangor department has also set up an incident command system at the state headquarters linked with other zones, apart from identifying flood hotspots in 339 areas in Selangor amid an unpredictable climate change,” he said.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said his ministry will procure two additional field hospital units involving a total cost of RM47 million to deal with any disaster and emergency including floods.

The move is important as the armed forces prepare to set up more field hospitals if needed, more so during this monsoon season.

The ministry is now on alert to assist related agencies and is waiting for instructions from the Central Disaster Management Committee chaired by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. – Bernama, September 29, 2022.