SIBU: Members of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) are not just volunteers during emergencies but are agents of preparedness and resilience.
Stating this, MRCS Sibu Branch advisor, Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau Lee Ming said the role includes educating communities, conducting assessments, supporting disaster preparedness programmes, assisting during emergencies and strengthening community resilience.
“The work you do may sometimes go unnoticed, but it is deeply meaningful. In fact, in moments of crisis, your presence can make the difference between chaos and order, between panic and calm, and sometimes between life and death.
“A resilient community is not one that never faces disasters, but one that knows its risks, understands its capacities, responds quickly and effectively, recovers faster and learns from every experience,” he said when officiating at the opening ceremony of the Enanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (EVCA) Training programme held at MRCS Sibu Branch’s premises on Wednesday.
In today’s world, he pointed out, where disasters and emergencies can happen anytime and anywhere, Red Crescent volunteers are more important than ever.
“The EVCA is not just a training programme but a practical and strategic tool that helps understand communities better.
Through EVCA, they could learn how to identify risks within communities, understand vulnerabilities among different groups, recognise local strengths and capacities and most importantly, plan effective disaster risk reduction activities.
This approach, Lau stressed, is very important because disaster management is not only about responding after something happens, but also about preventing and reducing impact before it happens.
“At the same time, we must also recognise that every community has its own strength-trained volunteers, local leaders, youth groups and strong social networks.
“EVCA helps us connect these two sides: risk and capacity, so that we can build safer and stronger communities,” Lau said.
Also present were MRCS Youth Council chairperson, Norsyarmimi Che Lah, MRCS Sarawak Chapter assistant director, Ng Pei Sze and MRCS Sibu Branch chairman, Penghulu Chua Hiong Kee.
