Myanmar quake: 50 SMART team members heading to disaster-struck country

The Star

Two Royal Malaysian Air Force A400 Airbus aircraft, each carrying 25 Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) members departed for the Mandalay region in Myanmar, where a massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday (March 28).  The 50 rescuers is Malaysia's response under the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) to support humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in the disaster-struck area.  Read more at http://rb.gy/04tsj3  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00On behalf of the people of ASEAN, I would like to extend my warmest greetings to you.

00:08On behalf of the people of ASEAN, I would like to extend my warmest greetings to you.

00:19Honourable Ministers, I am the Chairman of the ASEAN Council.

00:24As the Chairman of ASEAN Council for 2025,

00:29we are very sympathetic with what is happening in Myanmar.

00:35Therefore, we take immediate action by regulating the movement of the SMART team.

00:45We have two aircrafts, two aircrafts,

00:50which involve 50 officers and members,

00:58where the equipment that is brought is as much as 30 tonnes.

01:07We also bring medical equipment.

01:11The ATMs also bring 16 members,

01:16BDRMs as many as 13 members,

01:21and the Bombardment and Rescue Department as many as 21 people.

01:25We hope they will be at the scene between 7 and 14 days.

01:34It depends on the situation there.

01:37Do you expect to add more members?

01:41We plan based on the needs.

01:44I will discuss with the DUTA,

01:48and we will coordinate with NARMA and Wismar Putra

01:53to get advice from them on the needs.

01:57Does Thailand have a plan to send the ASEAN team there?

02:02No, there is no plan yet.

02:04Because in Myanmar, it is very necessary compared to what is happening in Bangkok.

02:10For the SMART team, this is my first mission.

02:14But outside the SMART team,

02:16I mean in the Bombardment and Rescue Department in Malaysia,

02:19I have deployed many times, but only in Malaysia.

02:23And this is the first operation that I attended in the SMART team.

02:28As a normal human being,

02:30our feelings are often mixed up.

02:34First, we are nervous.

02:37We are afraid.

02:39But we have been trained to adapt to all things.

02:42Because we have been given responsibilities

02:45to deal with things like this.

02:48I have been training myself.

02:53I am sure that the training we have been given is efficient

02:57to deal with these kinds of operations.

03:01I think that for a person who has lost his mother,

03:05we should be happy to leave our family.

03:08But because of the responsibilities we have been given,

03:11we need to deal with these things.

03:13We have adapted to these things.

03:15We have set our mindset.

03:17I am from Kota Baru, Pelantan.

03:20My family and my wife have planned to go back to our hometown.

03:24But suddenly, we received a call from an officer

03:28to prepare for us.

03:30When we received the news,

03:32there was an earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.

03:35But no matter how sad we are,

03:37we have to go because it is our duty and our country's responsibility.

03:41Is there a situation where the responsibility

03:44is placed on the country first,

03:46and the people second?

03:48How do you feel about the call from the country?

03:53In my opinion,

03:56the priority is for the country first.

04:02After the operation is over,

04:05we will go back to celebrate with our family.

04:08This is my first experience of an overseas operation.

04:11How do you feel now that you are celebrating?

04:16But duty comes first.

04:19How do you feel?

04:21We used to put aside our feelings.

04:24Now, our feeling is to serve our country

04:27and help people in need.

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