KOTA KINABABLU: The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu yesterday donated 3,000 copies of the booklet entitled ‘Disaster Prevention and Mitigation’ written in Chinese, English and Malay languages to the State government.
The consulate also contributed 200 sets of comic books on the subject, with each set comprising six comic books published in Mandarin, to the government in conjunction with the United Nations’ International Day for Disaster Reduction on October 13.
The ‘Disaster Prevention and Mitigation’ booklets of which 1,000 copies were printed for each of the three main languages, covered 12 kinds of natural disasters, including rainstorm, waterlogging, aridity, heat waves, tropical cyclone, hail, landslide, mudflow, earthquake, thunderbolt, frigid weather and tsunami.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Edward Yong Oui Fah, said the booklets would be distributed to public libraries and schools, especially those in Ranau area.
Yong said Consul General Chen Peijie had offered to provide the informative booklets following the Ranau earthquake on June 5 last year.
“After the earthquake, a lot of people were at a loss, not knowing what to do because it was the first time in the history of Sabah that we encountered a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Many lives and properties were lost in the incident,”he recalled.
Yong said the Chinese Consulate had provided disaster relief books in Mandarin previously but the Chinese-language publications could only cater for Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina), or SJK(C).
As such, the consulate came up with the ‘Disaster Prevention and Mitigation’ booklets in three languages, and even hired a translator from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to work on the Malay version.
“On behalf of the State government, I wish to express my gratitude to the Consulate and Chen,”Yong said.
He believed the booklets would provide much needed information on before, during and after an earthquake, given China’s experience and expertise in dealing with major earthquakes.
The booklets are written in simple, easy-to-understand format to suit readers of all levels, while the comic books are suitable for primary school pupils.
When asked if the consulate would organize earthquake related seminars in Sabah, Yong said the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) had gone to Taiwan to learn from local expertise in order to formulate solutions for earthquake-resistant building designs,.
He said the State government would work hand in hand with Chen to arrange a seminar on earthquake in the future.
“We will invite experts from China to share information regarding earthquake with our technical departments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs),” said the assistant minister.
Meanwhile, Chen hoped that the people in Sabah would benefit from the information booklets on disaster prevention and mitigation.
Although the magnitude of the Ranau earthquake was not as high, it had caused losses in lives and properties, she said.
“From media reports, I saw that many people were at a loss and unprepared for the earthquake,” she said.
Hence, she hoped the booklets could enable the public, especially children, to mentally prepare themselves so that they would not panic in the event of a natural disaster.
“I hope the State government will distribute the booklets to the public, secondary and primary students as soon as possible to enhance their awareness on disaster prevention and mitigation.”
On holding earthquake talks, Chen said the consulate would render its assistance in this respect if there was a need to.
Also present was Deputy Consul General, Sun Xiaowu.