Dr Zaidi Razak

KUCHING, 14 September 2022 - The Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) will use and extend the mobilise platform through the living lab named Resilience4wrd to support risk-sensitive sustainable urban development under the TRANSCEND project.

SMA general manager Ts Dr Zaidi Razak said the TRANSCEND living lab will involve collaboration with a wide cross-section of stakeholders from the Sarawak government and federal agencies, government linked companies (GLCs), higher learning institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private sector, community leaders to public.

"This is not merely a data gathering project, but a project that can benefit Sarawak in disaster risk reduction using advancement and solutions based on  technology to build resilience,” he said in his speech at the launching ceremony of TRANSCEND Sarawak and Resilient4wrd Living Lab 2022 at Tegas Digital Village, here today.

TRANSCEND Sarawak is also aimed at investigating the socio-technical system, that helps to create a collaborative virtual workspace and  enables foresight and consensus building that promotes an adaptive governance approach across multi-agencies and organisations.

“It also aims to analyse, forecast, visualise and debate on disaster-risk and trade-offs and develop capability to choose a sustainable and resilient  development plan.

“In short, the TRANSCEND programme can provide a quick response system, lessons learnt, and best practices to build resilience, as well as reduce loss of lives and properties caused by damaging and unexpected disasters,” he added.

He said as the digital policy advisory for Sarawak government, SMA is looking into the resulting platform and research from MOBILISE and TRANSCEND.

“The disaster risk reduction (DRR) elements and digital platform can also be part of our Smart City Operating System providing 24/7 information, monitoring, indicators, alerts and analysis to help Sarawak government in disaster risk reduction and to assist in planning, management, implementation and monitoring of development and resilience for both urban and rural areas,” he said.

Source: New Sarawak Tribune