Sarawak JBPM receives additonal vehicles to tackle floods

KUCHING: The Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) will receive seven Toyota Hilux four-wheel drives (4WD) and nine lorries to stregthen the department's logistics besides helping the relevant agencies to face disasters.
The department's director Nor Hisham Mohammad said the approval for obtaining the extra vehicles had been given by the headquarters, and they were expecting to receive the vehicles by March or April this year.
"These seven 4WD will function as 'prime movers', helping to carry boats so that we can despatch help faster and to more places, especially during disasters.
"Based on experiences during the flood this time, especially in Limbang, there were government departments and other agencies that had boats, but they did not have the 'prime movers', and this complicated relief works as based on the patterns, floods occured in places where there were no boats," he said.
He was speaking to reporters after attending the Sarawak JBPM's 2015 Annual Parade ceremony here.

Commenting further, Nor Hisham said besides the addition to logistics, the Sarawak JBPM would also receive 21 ambulances, in addition to the three they currently had.
"JBPM Sarawak is trying to strenghten its paramedic team, as of now, 88 individuals have passed to join the team, overall we need around 120 paramedics to cover the state," he said.
Meanwhile, Nor Hisham said that from Jan 17 until yesterday, 14 of 28 fire stations in the state were involved in helping 4,283 victims to safety.
"JBPM Sarawak has carried out 200 surveys and 81 rescue and relief operations. We have helped 4,282 victims to date, and from the total, JBPM Sarawak have helped to transfer 19 patients," he said. – Bernama