Sarawak Government Ready To Implement Haze Emergency Management Mechanism In Serian
KUCHING: The Sarawak Government has established a series of directives and management mechanisms to ensure all relevant agencies are prepared to carry out appropriate measures following the declaration of a haze emergency in Serian.
Sarawak Deputy Premier, who is also Chairman of the Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, said the preparations were crucial to ensure the implementation of emergency-related measures could be carried out in an organised and effective manner.
He said the implementation of the emergency declaration was not similar to the Movement Control Order (MCO) during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was aimed at ensuring members of the public remained indoors to reduce exposure to hazardous haze conditions.
“This is not like the COVID-19 MCO, but it is intended to ensure that people remain at home.
“Therefore, government and private offices have been instructed to close. Although offices need to be closed, we have several essential services that must continue operating, such as supermarkets, petrol stations, banks and several other facilities,” he said during a press conference after the SDMC meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here on Friday.
Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah added that essential services involving government agencies such as the police, military and relevant departments would continue to operate to ensure safety and the dissemination of information to the public were not affected.
He stressed that the emergency declaration only involved affected localities in Serian and did not cover other areas in Sarawak.
He stressed that the emergency declaration only involved affected localities in Serian and did not cover other areas in Sarawak.
Also present were Minister of Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, Deputy Sarawak Secretary (Administration) Datu Felicia Tan Ya Hua, Sarawak Education Department Director Omar Mahli, Sarawak Police Commissioner CP Datuk Mohamad Zainal Abdullah, Sarawak Security and Enforcement Unit (UKPS) Director Abdul Wahab Rahim, and Sarawak Public Communications Unit (UKAS) Director Awang Putrayusrie Awang Redzuan. -UKASnews
