Pedestrians walking on the sidewalk while holding umbrellas in Kuala Lumpur July 10, 2021. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
LABUAN, Oct 10 — Some 12,000 firemen nationwide are on standby for the impending North-East monsoon season, with six states expected to experience floods, said Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Hamdan Wahid today.
He said the department has enhanced its logistics capabilities and manpower to effectively respond to floods and to assist the public in the event of a disaster.
“We have been notified by the Meteorological Department of the year-end monsoon (North-East monsoon) beginning next month
“Six states, including Sabah are forecast to experience bad weather and possible floods. We are ready and if the situation worsens we will get assistance from nearby states,” he told reporters at a departmental awards presentation ceremony here today.
He said the six states to be focused on are Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
Meanwhile, he said since January this year, the department responded to a total of 115,000 distress calls nationwide.
“On average, we responded to about 400 emergency calls daily, and we never expected that during the Covid-19 pandemic we will receive such a high number of emergency calls compared to previous years,” Hamdan said.
He also said that some 1,300 firemen nationwide tested positive for Covid-19, mostly involving infections in the community. — Bernama