KUALA TERENGGANU – The short, medium and long-term planning agreed at the Central Disaster Management Committee (JPBP) meeting for disaster and flood mitigation is indeed a comprehensive move, said Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.
He said that being a state with areas that are at high risk of floods and faced with the annual Northeast Monsoon, Terengganu welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob last Friday (Feb 4) regarding the strategic measures.
“Starting from the aspect of disaster management education, disaster management system, whole-of-society approach, empowerment of community capacity, facility equipment to upgrading infrastructure.
“In fact, the measures announced also took into account climate change, which is one of the causes of floods or disasters occurring,” he told Bernama today.
He said that with the measures announced, the state government hoped that national disaster management in the future could be carried out more smoothly and effectively.
Ahmad Samsuri also hoped that these initiatives would take the country to a better level in disaster management after being forced to contend with billions of ringgit in losses every year due to the destruction of public facilities and assets.
“To make this a success, the support of every stakeholder is very much needed, be it the federal government, state government, local authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community or the people as a whole,” he said.
At the JPBP meeting chaired by the prime minister on Feb 4, eight strategic measures were drawn up to improve national disaster management.
Among the measures are to control deforestation activities; build a SMART tunnel, develop resilient sponge cities; and develop a warning system based on Artificial Intelligence.
