The preparedness of the public for CBRNE threats and incidents in Malaysia

Malaysia's local government is responsible to ensure that its citizens are ready to assist in CBRNE incidents and disasters before the first responders arrive at the scene and that resources are available to cope with threats and crises. Despite having the government's disaster and management plan at various levels, the public preparedness to face the CBRNE threats and occurrences is still remains uncertain. Thus, this study aims to determine and evaluate the public's preparedness for CBRNE threats and incidents in Malaysia. Malaysia has experienced various situations of public concern, including the assassination of Kim Jung Nam at KLIA, Kim Kim River pollution in Johor, and the COVID-19 outbreak. Malaysia has disaster management policies and risk management, such as National Security Council Directive No. 20 and the Malaysia Disaster Management Reference Handbook, 2019 edition, but there is not mention of public preparedness for CBRNE threats and incidents. Aside from that, a thorough examination of the requisite public preparation to deal with CBRNE incidents and threats is required. This research has three objectives. First, to identify resources available for public preparedness and response to CBRNE threats and incidents. Second, to examine the public's proficiency level in responding to CBRNE threats and incidents. Third to determine the sustainability and best practices for public response to CBRNE threats and incidents. This study used a qualitative technique to address the factors, with secondary data acquired from the library and the internet, including books, journals, articles, lectures, information, and online sources. The finding of this study shows that the public preparedness to respond to CBRNE threats and incidents is still lacking, has limited resources and can be improved. This study suggests that the federal government implement a continuous monitoring program to measure public preparation and determine the public understanding of CBRNE dangers and their readiness to respond to threats. CBRNE education can take place in schools or through public broadcasting in the mainstream media. Alternatively, it may begin with the ever-vulnerable industrial sectors. For future research, it is suggested a quantitative approach or mixed method be used to confirm the results obtained by this study.
Keywords: Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive, and Preparedness