The Causes of Flood in Malaysia and Its Effects

Abstract

Floods have become a recurring issue in Malaysia, causing significant damage to property and posing a risk to the lives of citizens. The causes of flood in Malaysia discussed in this essay are complex and multifaceted, ranging from environmental factors such as heavy rainfall and natural disasters, to human factors such as urbanization and deforestation. The rapid expansion of urban areas, coupled with the removal of natural water retention systems such as wetlands and forests, has resulted in increased surface runoff and reduced infiltration of water into the soil. This has led to a higher volume of water entering rivers and subsequently causing floods. Efforts have been made to mitigate these risks through various approaches, including the construction of flood control structures, land-use regulations, and public awareness campaigns. However, much more needs to be done to address the root causes of floods and ensure the safety of citizens. A comprehensive analysis of the causes of flood in Malaysia can provide insight into the underlying factors that contribute to the problem and aid in the development of effective flood risk management strategies.

Introduction

Floods are a disaster that occurs normally for poor drainage design and improper management of water resources. They tend to be difficult to prevent but can be managed to reduce its social and economic impacts. There are many factors contributing to flood disaster such as poor infrastructure of the drainage system which contributes to flooding risks. Over the last two decades, the cause of flood to happen is from construction at flood hazard areas. This results as a liability suits towards the government authorities due to poor supervision and flood mitigation measures taken by authorities. However, despite being a disaster, flood may also bring some positive impact towards the society. Humanitarian values can be seen during volunteer program conducted to help flood victims, small scale ecosystem may be induced through flooding and economic can be boosted through attractions for flood areas after they have been transformed into a positive turnout like Venice city in Italy. For farmers and those in the agricultural sector, it helps them in the long term by providing nutrients to the soil that were lack of it. This makes the soil more fertile and increases agricultural production. Nutrients are also added to rivers and lakes that can improve the health of fishes and other living organism inside it. There may also be relocation of fishes and organisms living in water bodies which may improve the ecosystem. Not only that, but also the flood helps the government to figure out a way to improvise the sewer system. We understood that Natural Disaster Risk Reduction (NDRR) is a cost-effective investment in diminishing future losses mainly for evolving countries. Malaysia has formerly experienced natural disasters, the common case has been flooding. The challenge for Malaysia is to lessen the effects of flooding complications as the nation develops economically. The Malaysia Five Year Plan (2016-2020) stresses on strengthening disaster risk management through few phases which are prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Even though the present Malaysian government now has procedures for controlling natural disasters, there are opportunities to accomplish further improvements in flooding retrieval disaster management. Besides human impacts, the damage of vital research equipment with lengthy lead time for spare could excellently end programmes of research and concentrate any investment in research basically worthless. The Malaysian government put millions dollars into higher education for Malaysians in these past few years.

Chronology of flood

One of the reasons why flood benefits the human being is how it aids to control the overpopulation of human being. Now this reason might sound monstrous and immoral, without any doubts not a single individuals can deny that however we must look at the bright side. For instance, earth resources will be sufficient for every human beings hence the amount of less fortunate will decrease statically. According to US Census Bureau. During 1910 till 1992, the population of human beings increases drastically from 1. 5 billion to 6. 8 billion human beings. Urban sprawl and mountains of garbage, industry and industrial agriculture, extinction-inducing levels of hunting, poaching and fishing are all results of overpopulation. Similarly, it is tremendously crucial to emphasise on the other benefit of flood which is in agriculture perspective. Flood does not only helps to spread organic material, nutrients, and sediments which enrich floodplain soils but they also replenish water resources and trigger life processes such as bird breeding events, migration, and seed dispersal in flora and fauna adapted to these cycles, while good soil moisture can allow crops and pastures to be established. However all those benefits do not come without any cost. Food and habitat shortages also present longer-term impacts on those that survived, and certain endangered species can be at risk after flooding events.

Impacts on Malaysia

The monsoon rain and ensuing floods have become part and parcel of everyday life of Malaysians. However, people no longer want to tolerate flooding as an annual hindrance. While Malaysia has been growing with rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, the increase in extreme weather events like floods have taken a toll on local economies and infrastructure. Despite being a disaster, flood may also bring some positive impact towards the society. Humanitarian values can be seen during volunteer program conducted to help flood victims. According to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (Cred), Malaysia experienced 38 floods in the last two decades, which have affected over 770,000 people, killed 148 people, and caused over US$1. 4 billion (RM4. 85 billion) in damages. These numbers do not include other smaller floods — if one follows the news today, it is easy to see that the occurrences are more frequent than before, and the damages far greater. In recent years, the Malaysian government has pumped billions of ringgits into flood mitigation initiatives, and one of the most notable projects is the investment in the Storm water Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur. While there have been measured improvements in some states for flood management, more needs to be done to meet the increasing severity and occurrences of floods. The government undeniably plays a crucial role in the country’s flood management. However, we all have a part to play, and need to address this issue with a greater gotong royong spirit — where businesses, organisations and citizens come together to tackle such extreme weather events over the next decade. Gotong royong refers to the interconnectedness of a community that lives together — how they are deeply invested in one another’s well-being, sharing not only joys but also burdens. Tackling Malaysia’s flood problems should not be a burden that is shouldered solely by the government, but by all of us collectively.

Cycle of life

People have come to regard floods as disasters in terms of lives lost and property damaged. Humans have altered the flow of natural waterways to meet their needs but with sometimes disastrous consequences. Though floods can be devastating to population centres, they have always been an integral part of nature's renewal process, providing many long-term positive effects. Floods contribute to the health of ecologically important wetland areas. Healthy wetlands promote healthy water supplies and even affect air quality. Floods inundate wetlands with fresh waste. They also carry and deposit nutrient-rich sediments that support both plant and animal life in wetlands. In addition, flooding adds nutrients to lakes and streams that help support healthy fisheries. Floods distribute and deposit river sediments over large areas of land. These river sediments replenish nutrients in topsoil and make agricultural lands more fertile. Many population centres depend upon ground water and underground aquifers for fresh water. Flood waters absorb into the ground and percolate down through the rock to recharge these underground aquifers, which supply natural springs, wells, rivers and lakes with fresh water. The river ecosystem is a critical habitat for the biota: fish, wildlife and waterfowl. Seasonal variability and variable sediment and flow regimes help maintain ecological biodiversity in rivers and flood plains. Wetlands or swamps located in flood plains serve as natural buffer zones for excessive flood flows and play host to many birds, fish and plants. Supplementary livelihoods in the form of recreational and eco-tourism activities can be made possible by the presence of the rich river ecosystem, bestowed with abundant flora and fauna. Surface runoff and flooding can help wash down pollutants and contaminants deposited on land caused by the intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers. They also flush out accumulated organic substances brought by untreated drainage water from farmlands, stockyards, factories and domestic use and restore the ecological health of stagnant rivers and streams by diluting them and providing clean water.

Liability of flood

Any Malaysian who has spent their whole life staying in the north east of Malaysia are probably familiar with flood experience. Natural disasters involving floods or tsunamis are not a new phenomenon, however, as of the last few centuries, human growth in developing their economy has motivated the quantity of and sternness of the flood. As consequences, there is a cumulative amount of Malaysian especially those who live nearby beaches are forced to leave their homes to settle somewhere safe for the time being to avoid any unwanted incidents. Cost is also one of the problems that the whole community will have to face. Theoretically, the government will fund some of the compensation but the question that always lingers in the mind of every victim is. Will it be sufficient to start over? Most of the people who live in the north east of Malaysian depends on their crops or livestock to sustenance their life and daily expenses. So how exactly are they going to recover those losses? Flooding of urban areas can result in significant damage to private property, including homes and industries. Losses occur due to damage to both the structure and insides of buildings which includes the system that runs the building. Insurance of the structure and its contents against flooding can diminish the impacts of floods on those who are affected or companies. Flooding and coastal erosion can have severe economic, social and environmental impacts on communities. Funding for flood defences has been the subject of political debate particularly in relation to whether current Government is spending enough or more than previous Governments. There has been substantial debate and scrutiny on the levels of maintenance funding over recent years. Maintenance is funded from both the capital and resource budgets: refurbishment and repair of existing assets is generally capital expenditure; whereas routine maintenance is resource expenditure. The case for central government spending on flood risk management assets lies in the economic damages avoided to the nation as a whole. Accordingly, funding is prioritised and allocated to those activities which most cost effectively reduces flood risk. It is not a simple case that revenue is for maintaining existing assets and capital is for building new assets, which inevitably increases ongoing maintenance costs. Around 5. 4 million properties are at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, surface water or both. Annual flood damage costs are estimated to be in the region of £1. 1 billion. It is not possible to prevent all flooding or coastal erosion, but the impacts on communities can be reduced with effective flood and coastal erosion risk management.

Conclusion

The article was made in order to review on the flood causes, effects and approach to keep people aware of this natural disaster that always occurs here in Malaysia and also how to reduce the impact and if possible to avoid damages. The findings shows that, large percentage of people believes improper drainage system is the main cause of flood and also some part agree that the main effects of flood is the damage to houses and appliances, some stated that the main way to avoid flood damages is to evacuate people from the flood zones and lastly some think that it is because of the monsoon weather mostly happened in the east coast of Malaysia such as Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. Finally the main aim was achieved and hope that, this work will help everyone in understanding better and aware about flood in Malaysia.