PUCHONG: Non-governmental organisations that wish to help during floods are required to report at the disaster operations control centres, says National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma).
Its deputy director Datuk Khairul Shahril Idrus said they had in the past been forced to dispatch help to rescue inexperienced volunteers who were stuck in floods.
"We welcome their help, but we need to streamline the efforts (to help flood victims); we don't want the help to only be focused on one area, while the rest are left unattended.
"So, based on the guidelines that had been prepared by us (on disaster management), the NGOs will have to report to the disaster operations control centres," he said on Thursday (Sept 15).
Khairul said the disaster operations control centres were headed by district police chiefs.
On public criticism that the NGOs and community involvement showed the government’s weaknesses in managing disasters, he said community involvement was one of the strategies to ensure everyone was ready for disasters.
“It is a strategy used not only in Malaysia, but it is a gold standard adopted (globally) whereby the communities are the first responders before the arrival of governmental agencies,” he said.
