Tag Archives: disaster management

Remarks

A Roadmap for Disaster Resilience in Malaysia

Leave a comment

From infrastructure to community involvement and good governance, resilience in the face of disasters must be built, writes disaster management professional Dr Sheikh Kamran Abid.

THIS November-to-December monsoon has been vicious, racking up the largest victim displacement – at least 120,000 – since the large big flood of 2014.

But Malaysia is no stranger to natural disasters. The country faces various environmental risks, from devastating floods to landslides and droughts. In recent years, the impacts of climate change have intensified these natural hazards, making it more urgent than ever to build disaster resilience.

(Feature image: As landslides and other natural disasters increase due to the climate crisis, resilience at every level needs to be built. | Screenshot from JKR Daerah Kinta Facebook )

Continue reading
Insight

气候变迁法案是系统治灾依据

Leave a comment

治灾防灾靠的不只是人力财力，更需要完善的法律。

为解决气候变迁和频繁水灾的根本问题，气候变迁法案是其中一个尚在规划的方案，而前能源、工艺、科学、气候变化及环境部长兼蒲种国会议员杨美盈希望在团结政府届满前，在国会提呈及通过气候变迁法案。

她之前解释，政府应成立一支特工队，设下18个月的目标，在2年内完成气候变迁法案。

(图片：水灾给百姓带来巨大的损失。| 来源：Canva 图片库)

继续阅读
Insight

可持续规划，治水灾根本

Leave a comment

气候变迁导致降雨骤增，更揭露了我国长期忽视排水需求的根本问题。我们该如何对治频频发生的严重水灾呢？

每年年杪至年初，水灾一直是马来西亚的重大课题。根据国家灾难管理机构（NADMA）灾难控制中心发出的最新全国灾难事故报告指出，2023年11月11日至2024年1月13日期间，累计有2万2966户家庭和7万4807名受害者安置在临时疏散中心（PPS），其影响农地达4900公顷，造成我国2300万令吉的经济损失。

(图片：淹没的村镇。 | 来源：Canva 图片库)

继续阅读
Insight

As Disasters Rise, Climate Change Act Clearly Needed

Leave a comment

While its towns bear the consequences of extreme weather, experts and politicians push for a long-awaited climate bill to be signed into law.

MANY Malaysians remember the floods of December 2021, when roads turned to rivers, and homes were swept away or submerged by rising water. 

The disaster claimed 50 lives, at least 400,000 people had to be evacuated and financial losses were estimated at RM6.1 billion, according to a 2022 analysis by Serina Rahman, an environmental anthropologist.

Young Syefura Othman, the member of parliament for Bentong district in Pahang, recalls how three consecutive days of pelting rain inundated her constituency. The flooding happened “of course because of climate change,” she said.

(A man walks through floodwaters in Taman Sri Muda, Malaysia, December 2021  | Image: Alamy)

(more...)
Insight

What It Takes to Manage Landslides

Leave a comment

Floods might hog the current natural disaster news in Malaysia, but landslides are occurring too. Does Malaysia have what it takes to handle landslides?

CARRYING her one-month-old baby, Pricila Gracelyn rushed out from her hillside house in Penampang, Sabah in terror and pain as a big falling tree and cascading mud almost split her home into two.

“I was just about to lay my baby down on the bed when I suddenly heard a loud sound coming from above us. I thought it was thunder,” remembers Gracelyn.

“Maybe it’s my instincts, I carried my baby and escaped from the room, and in a blink [of an eye], our house was destroyed by the landslide.”

(Composite photo: Soil and trees destroyed Gracelyn’s house in Penampang, Sabah in September | Pics by Pricila Gracelyn)

(more...)