KUCHING: Jumlah penduduk yang berlindung di pusat pemindahan sementara (PPS) di Sarawak mula menunjukkan penurunan.

Sehingga jam 5 petang ini, seramai 12, 862 daripada 3,771 keluarga masih berada di 65 PPS di seluruh negeri.

Jumlah itu menyusut 259 orang berbanding 13,121 orang yang direkodkan pada jam 12 tengah hari ini.

Daripada jumlah itu, seramai 12,656 orang adalah mangsa banjir dan jumlah itu menurun berbanding 12, 914.

Menurut Sekretariat Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri (JPBN), cuaca agak baik di kebanyakan kawasan di Sarawak hari ini, membolehkan penduduk mula balik ke rumah masing-masing.

Sementara itu, laporan Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia pada jam 4 petang ini meramalkan ribut petir dan hujan lebat berlaku di beberapa bahagian di Sarawak sehingga jam 9 malam ini.

Kawasan terbabit ialah Sibu Selangau), Kapit (Song dan Kapit), Bintulu, Miri dan Limbang manakala bahagian lain diramal cuaca baik.

SERIAN: Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Bahagian diminta untuk memberikan cadangan dan mengenalpasti jenis-jenis penambahbaikan yang perlu dilakukan di setiap Pusat Pemindahan Sementara (PPS) di bahagian dan daerah masing-masing.

Cadangan itu bagi membolehkan peruntukan berkaitan disediakan untuk menaiktaraf PPS terlibat bagi memberikan keselesaan kepada mangsa bencana yang dipindahkan ke PPS terbabit.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof berkata saranan itu sesuai dengan pengumuman oleh Pengerusi Majlis Bencana Negara Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yang turut mencadangkan pembinaan PPS kekal yang boleh digunakan untuk pelbagai tujuan.

Walaupun PPS kekal itu tidak dapat disediakan disemua tempat namum penambahbaikan PPS sedia ada adalah perlu untuk memberikan kemudahan yang baik kepada mangsa-mangsa bencana yang dipindahkan.

“Untuk kita kenalpasti apa lagi kekurangan dan kita boleh sediakan kenudahan untuk masa akan datang secara kekal khususnya tandas dan juga bilik mandi dan kalau perlu kadang-kadang kita memerlukan tempat untuk memasak dan sebagainya.

“Itu perlu disediakan sebagai sebahagian asas untuk keselesaan setiap mangsa yang dipindahkan sementara ketika berlakunya bencana,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditemui selepas melakukan tinjauan di Stadium Terbuka Bola Keranjang di Serian.

Menurutnya, kesemua perkaran itu sudah dimaklumkan kepada pegawai daerah dan Pejabat Residen Bahagian untuk mengemukakan cadangan berkaitan melalui Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri Sarawak (JPBNS) untik dipanjangkan ke Pejabat Timbalan Perdana Menteri.

Ia bagi membolehkan setiap cadangan terbabit dapat dikemukan diperingkat persekutuan untuk dipertimbangkan dan diperhalusi.

Cadangan itu juga katanya berupaya menjadi panduan di peringkat persekutuan untuk membantu menyediakan tempat yang selesa dan bersesuaian bagi menempatakan mangsa-mangsa bencana.

PHILADELPHIA (AP): A small plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia 30 seconds after it took off as crews respond to a fiery scene, Pennsylvania’s governor said on Friday (Jan 31).

Gov. Josh Shapiro said he is offering all "Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly.”

Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair on Friday when he heard a loud bang and his house shook. He said it felt like a mini earthquake, and when he checked his home security camera footage, he said it looked like a missile was coming down. "There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,” he said.

Flight data showed a small jet taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and disappearing from radar about 30 seconds later after climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters).

The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping centre where first responders were blocking traffic, and onlookers crowded onto a street corner in the residential neighbourhood of Rhawnhurst. Philadelphia’s emergency management office said that roads are closed in the area.

One cellphone video taken by a witness moments after the plane crashed showed a chaotic scene with debris scattered across the intersection. A wall of orange glowed just beyond the intersection as a plume of black smoke quickly rose into the sky, while some witnesses could be heard crying and sirens blared.

The Federal Aviation Administration said two people were aboard the plane, which was a Learjet 55. The plane, a small, business-type jet, was en route to Springfield, Missouri.

The plane appeared to be a medical transport jet. The plane that took off and quickly disappeared from radar was registered to a company operating as Med Jets.

The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB, which investigates air crashes, said it was gathering information about the crash. – AP

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A medical transport jet with a child patient and five others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighbourhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening (Jan 31), exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said the patient and another passenger were on board with four crew members.

Mayor Cherelle Parker said Wednesday night at a news conference that information on fatalities wasn’t immediately known, but several homes and vehicles had been damaged.

"This is still an active scene under investigation," she said.

The crash came just two days after the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation. On Wednesday night (Jan 29), an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C., with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors in that crash.

Over Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured footage of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground near a shopping mall and major roadway.

"All we heard was a loud roar, and didn’t know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume,” said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera.

The crash happened less than 3 miles (4.8km) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.

The plane, a Learjet 55, quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6.06pm and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487m). It was en route to Springfield, Missouri, and registered to a company operating as Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said he is offering all "Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly.”

A continuous stream of police vehicles and fire trucks initially poured into the scene, taking over business parking lots as emergency responders to the crash and fire directed people away and set up a perimeter stretching blocks in each direction. Within about an hour, the cry of sirens and shouted orders had faded into relative quiet at the edges of the closed-off area, and darkness settled in as drivers passing by peered out, trying to see what was happening.

The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping centre in the densely populated neighbourhood of Rhawnhurst.

One cell phone video taken by a witness moments after the plane crashed showed a chaotic scene with debris scattered across the intersection. A wall of orange glowed just beyond the intersection as a plume of black smoke quickly rose into the sky, and sirens blared.

Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair, a nearby neighbourhood, on Friday when he heard a loud bang, and his house shook. He said it felt like a mini earthquake, and when he checked his home security camera footage, he said it looked like a missile was coming down.

"There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,” he said.

The plane’s owner, Jet Rescue, provides global air ambulance services. The company, based in Mexico, flew baseball hall of famer David Ortiz to Boston after he was shot in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and was involved in transporting patients critically ill with COVID-19.

The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB, which investigates air crashes, said it was gathering information about the crash. – AP