SHAH ALAM: The Housing and Local Government Ministry will apply for emergency procurement for equipment and assets needed for the improvement of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department, says Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (pic).

       The Housing and Local Government Minister said the application did not mean that the existing allocation was insufficient, but was done to ensure the Fire and Rescure Department was highly prepared to perform its duties.

       "When the water starts to rise and is at a lower level, there is a need for us to use smaller boats to enter the affected areas and rescue victims, and it is not practical to use larger boats.

       "In some cases, there is a need to use smaller boats or fibreglass boats, and this is among the assets that we need to add through the emergency procurement, because when certain highways or roads are cut off, there is no other way to save the victims," he told reporters at the Fire and Rescue Department Operations Centre in Selangor here Sunday (Dec 19).

       Also present were Fire and Rescue director-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Hamdan Wahid and Selangor Fire and Rescue director Norazam Khamis.

       Regarding the flood situation in Selangor, he said based on monitoring, the water level in some areas had begun to recede.

       Meanwhile, Reezal Merican said food aid should also be extended to flood victims who were trapped on the highway for hours due to rising water levels.

       Reezal added that so far, 4,819 firefighters, including auxiliary personnel, had been deployed to assist in the rescue work, while 125 transport vehicles and 214 boats had been mobilised to the flood-affected areas. - Bernama