By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Sept 27: If a flood occurs in an unexpected area, the emergency of setting up a new temporary evacuation centre (PPS) will be decided by District Officer (DO) who is the appointed chairman of the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC).
Sarawak Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said this is the authority given to a DO so that a place can be immediately identified and utilised as a PPS at that particular time.
“So if there is a need that flood occurs in an unforeseen area and there was no gazetted PPS nearby that area, no problem.
“The decision will be made immediately where we will set up a new PPS proposed by DO and this will be notified to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC),” she told reporters after officiating at the Sarawak Disaster PPS Training and Simulation Programme 2022 held at Dewan Serbaguna Ranchan here today.
She further said that the decision to set up a PPS is not limited to only the occurence of floods but also other disasters such as landslides or other problems that disconnect the road accessibility to rural areas.
Amongst those present were Bukit Semuja assemblyman John Ilus, Sarawak Social Welfare Department director Noriah Ahmad, Serian Resident Selamat Yati Yanjah and Serian District Officer Lim Hock Meng. — DayakDaily
