PUTRAJAYA, Oct 6 — Over 2,000 schools and public facilities, like community halls and multi-purpose halls, have been gazetted as temporary evacuation centres (PPS) should the country be hit by floods, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.

He said this was part of the government’s measures to tackle the disaster, which include being prepared during and after the floods.

"There is a lesson to be learned from what happened (during the floods) last year and I can see that the relevant agencies are better prepared this time,” he said when met by Bernama and RTM after he launched the appreciation ceremony of the inter-department parade and programme to enliven the National Day 2022 celebration here today.

He said this when asked to comment on the essence of the Task Force on Preparation for the Northeast Monsoon (MTL) 2022/2023 meeting that he chaired on October 3.

Mohd Zuki said preparations to tackle the floods were also being carried out at the state level, especially in states frequently inundated.

The Meteorological Department had previously forecast the country to experience continuous heavy rain from mid-November, which could result in floods.

Earlier, in his speech, Mohd Zuki hoped that all ministries would streamline their machinery in their respective departments and agencies and be prepared to jointly provide the best assistance to the people during floods.

"I believe all the ministries have also formulated and organised their strategies to ensure the actions to be taken this time would be better than previous years, without involving any bureaucracy,” he said.

Also present was Ministry of Communications and Multimedia secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek and secretaries-general from other ministries.

At the ceremony, 18 ministries, including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources, received the five-star rating award for the inter-department programme to enliven the National Month 2022.

The Education Ministry, meanwhile, won the National Day 2022 Parade competition, with the Transport Ministry coming in second and the Health Ministry third. — Bernama