KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) has prepared three helicopters to assist in evacuating flood victims in the East Coast.
Its director-general, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahab Mat Yasin (pix) said that one helicopter has arrived in Bachok, Kelantan at noon while the other two are in preparation mode and will be mobilised to Terengganu if the situation calls for it.
The assets will be used in evacuation efforts, including ferrying patients in need of treatment to hospitals, or delivering food supplies.
“The department is currently focusing on the East Coast (Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang) as there are evacuation efforts. Personnel will not be increased by additional assets, including boats, have been sent there.
“We also advise local communities to evacuate immediately and the majority have done so voluntarily… so the number of trapped victims are lower. But with the current trend of rising water levels, for instance in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, there are victims who are being evacuated from the higher levels of their residences,” he said after attending an department event here today.
He also said that evacuee response to the flood this time is better compared to previous years as they chose to evacuate earlier, with the department mobilising 10 lorries to Kelantan and Terengganu from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor for that very reason.
Abdul Wahab also advised people to evacuate to relief centres as electricity supply has been cut off in several areas, which will complicate efforts to obtain responses from residents. –Bernama