PUTRAJAYA: All agencies and departments under the Home Ministry have been ordered to make thorough preparations for the northeast monsoon, starting this month and last until March.
“Make sure our personnel are already trained, and our equipment serviceable. There must be no boats with engines that fail to start when they are needed,” said the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Dr Awang Alik Jeman.
“There must be no coordination issues over who should be deployed or how operations should be carried out. All department heads are asked to take these matters into account from now on.
“Do not wait until the floods are severe before we act,” he said at the ministry’s monthly assembly and innovation day celebration yesterday.
Also present were Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohd Khalid Ismail and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general Maritime Admiral Datuk Mohd Rosli Abdullah.
Earlier, Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said the northeast monsoon started on Oct 27 and would continue until March next year, Bernama reported.
Mohd Hisham said that between three and five episodes of continuous heavy rain were expected to hit the country during the early phase of the monsoon, from November to January.
