PUTRAJAYA: Over 2,000 schools and public facilities, like community and multi-purpose halls, have been gazetted as temporary evacuation centres (PPS) should the country be hit by floods, says Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali (pic).
He said this was part of the government’s measures to tackle the disaster, which included being prepared during and after the floods.
“There is a lesson to be learnt from what happened (during the floods) last year and I can see that the relevant agencies are better prepared this time,” he said when met by Bernama and RTM after he launched the appreciation ceremony of the inter-department parade and programme to enliven the National Day 2022 celebration here yesterday.
He said this when asked to comment on the task force on preparations for the northeast monsoon meeting that he had chaired on Oct 3.
Mohd Zuki said preparations to tackle the floods were also being carried out at the state level, especially in states frequently inundated.
The Meteorological Department had previously said that the country would experience continuous heavy rain from mid-November, which could result in floods.
Earlier, in his speech, Mohd Zuki said he hoped that all ministries would streamline their machinery in their respective departments and agencies and be prepared to jointly provide the best assistance to the people during floods.
“I believe all the ministries have also formulated and organised their strategies to ensure the actions to be taken this time will be better than in previous years, without involving any bureaucracy,” he said.
Also present were Communi-cations and Multimedia Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek and secretaries-general from other ministries.
At the ceremony, 18 ministries were given the five-star rating award for the inter-department programme to liven the National Month 2022.
The Education Ministry, meanwhile, won the National Day 2022 Parade competition, with the Transport Ministry coming in second and the Health Ministry third.
