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ALOR SETAR - The government is developing eight halls suitable for use as temporary evacuation centres (PPS) in schools that often take in flood victims.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the initiative was decided by the Central Disaster Committee he chaired today.
He announced the National Disaster Management Agency’s (Nadma) current allocations would be utilised to build these halls.
“The states prone to floods would utilise schools as PPS. The schools would often have toilets but lack a place to shower.
“With the hall’s development, those placed in it would have access to toilets and showers,” he said.
Zahid spoke during a press conference after a briefing session in conjunction with the Deputy Prime Minister’s working visit to the Kedah Regional Development Authority (Keda) headquarters, here.
He said the schools would manage the facilities and would be able to use the halls outside of the flood seasons.
“The new approach we took was to also enable schools to utilise these halls and facilities outside of the flood seasons,” he said without stating the location of the eight permanent PPS.
He estimated around 1,000 schools were often used as PPS and the development of the halls would be based on their priority.
In the same press conference, Zahid said the coordination between the agencies related to floods in several states were now geared towards ensuring aid was channelled quickly to victims.
“For example, while I was at Selancar, Rompin recently there was a road cut off that was solved within 72 hours by cooperating with the army’s engineer regiment and the public works department (PWD) through allocations by Nadma,” he said.