RedCrescentPenang.org.my

THE next time someone wants to propose a toast to your health, the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) Penang Branch proposes that they pick up one of its bottles of drinking water for the task.

The branch recently launched its Here’s to Health (H2H) fundraising project promoting the goodness of water to create greater awareness for a better and healthier lifestyle.

Branch chairman Datuk B.J. Yeang said the society would be selling its bottled drinking water to everyone, from large corporations to the local community and households, to raise RM50,000 in support of its humanitarian work.

“When we are too busy with work or any other chores, we tend to forget how important water is to our body.

“The human body is about 60% water for men and 55% for women,” she said, adding that being 2% dehydrated could seriously degrade one’s physical and mental functions.

The prices are RM1 per 500ml bottle and RM2 per 1,500ml bottle.

The bottled water will also be sold in cartons of 24 bottles of 500ml or 12 bottles of 1,500ml, where each carton is priced at RM10 or RM9 each for orders above 20 cartons.

Yeang said the orders could be collected from the headquarters at 26, Grove Road, Air Itam, Penang.

For details, please call the office secretariat at 04-8275678 or email to admin@redcrescentpenang.org.my to place orders.

An annual fire drill at Komtar in Penang saw almost 2,700 employees from various government departments rushing down from as high as Level 58 of the building on foot.

State assistant medical officer Dr Saiful Azlan Sharif said there were seven real casualties out of over 30 mock injury cases in the drill. “Most of them fainted out of panic. They were sent to the Penang Hospital to receive medical attention,” he said.

Among those who walked downstairs and had to wait under the morning sun during the drill on Friday which lasted more than an hour were state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow and the Chief Minister’s chief of staff Jeff Ooi.

Chow said he was on his way up to his office at Level 52 when he bumped into Ooi and decided to accompany him for breakfast at Level Two. “If I had not bumped into him, I would already be in my office and would have to take a long 15 to 20-minute walk down the stairs with my staff,” Chow said.

Another employee at Komtar, Nioh Chu Chai, who is Penang Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Danny Law’s special assistant, was not so lucky as he had to walk down 53 storeys. “It was tiring but quite exciting as it was my first drill here. Most of the staff did not panic when they heard the alarm and left their offices in an orderly manner,” said Nioh. “Some of them even helped to inform their colleagues and made sure nobody was left behind,” he said when approached at a carpark near Komtar.

The drill, called Ops Ex Duga, started at 8.45am. The fire and rescue department was informed of the ‘fire’ at 8.53am and the first to respond was the Lebuh Pantai fire station followed by firemen from the Bayan Baru, Jalan Perak and Bagan Jermal stations.

The department’s deputy director Mohd Razam Taja Rahim said eight fire trucks and 10 utility vehicles with 32 personnel were deployed for the drill. “We also co-operated with the police, the Penang Hospital, St John’s Ambulance and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.

“In actual fires, we would involve the voluntary fire fighting units as well,” he told a press conference after the drill concluded at 10.25am.

He said the Komtar building was completely vacated at 9.30am with the fire, which was staged on Level 45, being brought under control at 9.26am and put out at 10.10am.

Deputy state secretary Mohammad Yusoff Wazir said a post-mortem would be conducted to identify response weaknesses among employees at Komtar during emergencies.

State Health, Welfare, Caring and Environ-ment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the drill was carried out under Arahan 20, a command structure indicating the responsibilities of various government departments in crises. “The command chain must be clear. The post-mortem will reveal response weaknesses and show us what has to be rectified,” he said.

Penang State Health, Welfare and Caring Society chairman YB Phee Boon Poh was invited launching the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) Society 24-hour ambulance service for the Chinese New Year festive period at the society’s Penang branch operation office in Permatang Tinggi.

Phee said three ambulances would be put on standby between Jan 23 and Jan 31.  Some 300 Red Crescent members are involved during the period and they will be stationed along state roads on the island, north, central and south Seberang Prai.

The ambulances will be equipped with the Hospital Emergency Ambulance Radio Link system to enable members on duty to communicate with hospitals, St John Ambulance, civil defence and other emergency medical services.

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TENAGA Nasional Bhd has been told to expedite the repair of street lamps, especially in rural areas in the Bagan constituency to reduce snatch theft cases.  Bagan Dalam assemblyman P.K. Subbaiyah said many residents claimed that TNB and the Seberang Prai Municipal Council were slow to react to their complaints.

“The authorities concerned should take days and not months to process the applications for new streetlights as well as to repair the faulty ones. There are still many poorly-lit areas such as Hujung Batu, Lorong Kubor and Kampung Benggali in my area,” he said after launching Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) Butterworth’s 24-hour ambulance services for the Chinese New Year festival recently.

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THE Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) of SM Methodist Girls School (MGS) in Penang collected the most money among Penang schools during Flag Day on March 24 and 25.

The 103 members collected RM21,000 over the two days.

For their efforts, the school received a trophy from the Penang MRCS branch at the branch’s annual awards presentation ceremony held recently at the state MRCS headquarters in Grove Road.

Three Form Five students from the school also won trophies for their excellent leadership qualities. They are Khaw Jze Yuin, Aimy Lee and Ooi Her Wuen.

All smiles: (From left) Khaw, Ooi and Lee showing off their trophies.
Khaw said she liked doing community work as she gets satisfaction from helping people.

John Conceicao, 76, who had been a member of the society for 42 years, received the long-service award.

SMK Chung Ling students C. L. Peh and Tan Wei Keat also received leadership awards.

MRCS Penang branch chairman Saw Ewe Yong gave out the awards.

Cooking for the masses is no easy task, especially during times of disaster. Food has to be prepared quickly, hygienically and be good enough to feed the crowds at disaster relief centres.

With teamwork and proper co-ordination, cooking for about 500 people can be accomplished in just two hours. Malaysian Red Crescent Society Penang branch sub-committee chairman of disaster response Peh Cheah Lun said members were trained to cook for large crowds during disasters, adding that mass cookout required the use of the right cooking utensils.

A mass cooking session was held yesterday at the Kota Permai voluntary fire fighting squad centre, Bukit Mertajam. Participants included 200 members of the Padang Lalang constituency disaster relief team and 120 voluntary firemen from Juru, Machang Bubok, Sungai Rampai and Kota Permai.

“Rice is cooked via steaming in a Clinton cooker. After the rice is washed, it is placed on several trays which are then stacked on top of each other in the cooker,” said Peh, adding that the rice would be cooked in 45min. One cooker, which resembles a traditional steamer, can steam rice to feed up to 250 people. During the exercise, volunteers used 30 chickens, 20kg of onions and a gunnysack of potatoes to prepare chicken curry. They also boiled 400 eggs in 15min and used 96 cans of sardines as one of the main dishes. They also stir-fried 50 bunches of cabbage. The total cost of the cooking exercise was RM500.

“All the food cooked today are enough for 500 people,” said Padang Lalang assemblyman Tan Teik Cheng who was present to supervise the exercise. He added that it was important to train volunteers and be ready for disasters. “Since floods always hit my constituency, the disaster team here needs to learn how to handle such situations. With an orderly and good system in place, the team would avert chaos. They would know how to handle the situation,” he said.