KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) are leaving no stone unturned in their preparations for the coming monsoon season. Its director Khirudin Drahman updated New Sarawak Tribune yesterday on the progress.
“Preparations are ongoing, patrols to high-risk areas have been done, flood-prone areas have also been identified…simulation trainings have been carried out at each district’s respective stations.”
Explaining the standard operating procedure for the monsoon season, he said, “If moderate rain occurs for more than four hours or heavy rain for two hours, the teams on duty will have to patrol and observe areas that are flood prone.”
In addition, the Control Room officer would have to monitor social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others for any emergency, he added.
The public should always monitor weather conditions as well as the water-level status in their area through (flood information) http://infobanjir.water.gov.my and http://publicinfobanjir.water.gov.my; (weather information) http://www.met.gov.my and http://www.asmc.sasean.org; and (water-level information) http://ihydro.sarawak.gov.my.
Establishing a social network chain through WhatsApp with district, division and state department heads, community leaders, tuai rumah, state and district education department and others, would also hasten the process of receiving information and taking effective action, he said.
“Next, the Bomba Auxiliary Team and Community Bomba Team will be mobilised for monitoring purposes and channelling flood disaster-related information.
“This provides quicker reports to the Operation Centre (PGO) to enable the PGO to channel the information to department and state’s top management as well as to organise operations more effectively,” he added.
In a statistics that was shared, a total of 737 areas across Sarawak had been identified as high risk with Sibu topping the list with 219 areas, followed by Limbang (132), Kuching (104), Kota Samarahan (79), Miri (78), Sri Aman (75) and Bintulu (50).
Sarawak Bomba have 718 logistics assets at their disposal, comprising 109 vehicles, 48 boats and 561 equipment of various kinds. There are 2,172 members in the auxiliary unit, divided into 48 teams and placed in 12 stations with 19 ground assets. Sixteen emergency food supply bases have been set up by the Community Welfare Department — two bases are located in Kuching, three in Bintulu, four in Kapit and seven in Miri.
