KUCHING: Throughout the flood period earlier this year, there has been no reports of any loss of lives.
This was revealed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas during a press conference after holding a meeting with Sarawak Disaster Relief Committee at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here on Wednesday.
Uggah, who heads the committee, said that 194 areas have been affected by the flood which involved 3,991 families and 26,903 victims.
As for schools, he said that 111 have been affected which involved 9,936 students.
“This year we are fortunate because the flood is less intensive compared to previous years.
“We are grateful for the good weather and hope that it continues to be like that,” said Uggah, who is also the Minister of Modernisation of Agriculture and Rural Economy.
However, Uggah added that the places prone to flood kept changing as it is more prominent in the interior areas around the state such as Sibu, Miri, and Limbang.
“This gives us a challenging issue to address and we want to make sure we have sufficient assets and time as well.
“Nevertheless, I must express my appreciation to everyone, all the agencies and departments involved, who have been very cooperative,” he said.
Speaking on the meeting that was held earlier, the minister said that another one of their agendas was to obtain feedback on the status of various evacuation centres in perpetration for the end-year flood.
“We want to assess the capacity of that area in terms of service requirement.
“We want to do it early so we can take action early; the centres will be fully equipped with all facilities to make sure that the victims will be taken care of and minimise any difficulties that they may face,” he said.
Meanwhile, Uggah also alerted everyone involved on areas prone to fire incidents.
“Preemptive measures need to be taken as we need to maintain our assets.
“It should be done now so if anything were to happen, we will be ready to minimise the impact of the fire,” he said.
