The Malaysian Insight

PUTRAJAYA is currently looking at setting up National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) centres at state and district levels to be better equipped in handling future national disasters, Parliament was told today.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mastura Mohd Yazid, in a reply to Hasan Arifin (Rompin-BN) said that the current small structure and lack of officers made it difficult for the agency to have a central chain of command. 

“Among the significant weaknesses identified following the recent floods is the issue of chain of command with permission to implement disaster response mechanisms,” she said. 

“Nadma’s small structure and only operating at the central level of 94 posts of various business and professional grades as well as support groups and lack of staff at the state and district levels have made it difficult to coordinate bilateral information delivery directly with agencies in the field,” she said. 

Nadma’s restructuring comes after the agency was slammed for its failure in managing the December floods, including a delayed response time by authorities.

After the floods, the cabinet in the same month decided that the structure of the agency should be thoroughly strengthened in line with its role as the leader of national disaster affairs. – March 16, 2022.