Speaking at Parliament sitting today he said, the government had no plans to build permanent centres as they needed to be fully utilised and would be a waste in the long run.
“Projects to upgrade flood evacuation centres will continue, especially an increase in the number of toilets and shower facilities.
“Schools which are used as flood evacuation centres but have not been upgraded can inform the department so that these projects can be done,” he said.
He was replying to a supplementary question from Shaharuddin Ismail (BN-Kangar) on whether the government planned to build permanent flood evacuation centres in flood-prone states at the Dewan Rakyat here.
Replying to a question from Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur (BN-Silam) on the effectiveness of the National Security Council’s Directive in handling extreme floods, he said it explained on the work method at the district, state and central level in carrying out the job before, during and after a disaster.
To improve the directive system and speed of delivering weather information, he said the Meteorological Department was carrying out improvements expected to be ready by 2017.
“The Meteorological Department will conduct a comprehensive study to forecast floods by working with various agencies, including Japan in the field of technology such as radar, GPS and forecast models,” he said.
Shahidan said the department would also increase the network density of radar stations, increase the capability of existing radar stations and carry out comprehensive studies for forecast of extreme weather and floods.
— BERNAMA
