KUALA LUMPUR: The National Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations for Disaster Relief will be proposed as a one-stop control centre to handle emergencies, said former Inspector-General of Police Tun Hanif Omar.
He said the public was now burdened with numerous emergency hotline numbers and few would remember all the numbers when they are in a state of panic.
It would be the duty of the centre to handle distress calls and immediately inform the specific NGOs related to the relief work, he said.
He said the centre's personnel would also contact the police, fire and rescue department or hospitals.
“This will be one of the few key issues to be tabled at the National Conference on Disaster Relief with NGOs and representatives from the public sectors,” said Hanif at the inaugural Exhibition On Disaster Relief at MidValley Exhibition Centre here.
National Unity and Social Development Minister Datuk Dr Siti Zaharah Sulaiman launched the exhibition, organised by the Malaysian Humanitarian Foundation.
The coalition's other role would be to introduce the Life Saver Card which will contain personal information of its owner and emergency telephone numbers.
Hanif said it was time the Government manage disaster relief work in an integrated way, pointing out that help was usually delayed because public sector employees were not handling distress calls efficiently.
“Like the floods at Dataran Merdeka car park, there was no co-ordination among the parties involved,” he said.
The exhibition, ending today, was aimed promoting volunteerism and educating the public about the humanitarian work carried out by local NGOs.
