The world of Tzu Chi March 2020(Vol.120)

2020 • 03 22 A special flight on a special mission landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on February 4, 2020 at 5:57 a.m., carrying 107 individuals comprising Malaysians and their non-Malaysian spouses and children, all of whom were escorted home from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak. According to former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) chairman, all on board the flight, including the fight crew, members of the mission and officers from the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, would be subjected to a health screening at the Air Disaster Unit (ADU) upon arrival at KLIA. Dr. Wan Azizah also emphasized that those detected with symptoms would immediately be sent to hospital, while others would be transported by bus to a monitoring centre for observation under quarantine for 14 days. NADMA later stated that two out of the 107 individuals failed the screening and were sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. On February 3, 2020, the day the plane left for Wuhan Tianhe International Airport for the evacuation mission, Tzu Chi KL & Selangor received an invitation from NADMA to attend a briefing on the mission, which also involved the Ministry of Health of Malaysia (MOH) and the Department of Social Welfare (JKM). Tzu Chi was the only non-governmental organization (NGO) nominated for the mission. Humanitarian support from behind the scenes eature “We’re tasked to assist with translation duties, as our multilingual abilities, as well as our past experience of collaborating with NADMA, gave us an advantage,” remarked volunteer Lee Mun Keat. A duty roster was promptly arranged within 24 hours of the meeting, with ten volunteers assigned across a schedule of two shifts daily. The participating volunteers’ personal particulars and contact details were submitted to NADMA for tracking purposes. Ever ready to respond On February 4, Mun Keat and a fellow volunteer arrived at the monitoring centre, situated in a higher education leadership academy approximately 20 km from KLIA, before 8:00 a.m. The monitoring centre was divided into three segments: the red zone accommodated individuals under quarantine and only authorized personnel from the MOH equipped with protective gear were permitted entry; the yellow zone was designated as the control centre for the mission and was manned by JKM personnel and Tzu Chi volunteers who were ready to provide immediate assistance; the green zone or safety zone was out of bounds to the public and was guarded by security forces at all times. “The distance between the red and yellow zones was over 200m, hence it was considerably safe. Medical personnel entering and exiting the red zone to deliver meals had to pass through a disinfecting facility,” Mun Keat revealed. The authorities subsequently called off the