PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob is meeting with NADMA & other relevant agencies, including MBs, to prepare for massive floods later this year.
Following are short and long-term suggestions the PM could consider in mitigating floods:
, :
- To create early warning systems that must cover ALL flood-prone districts in the country;
- To organise immediate capacity-building events at the district level involving NGOs Resident Ass and Rukun Tetangga, including Rela, should be conducted nationwide to equip the public with knowledge and skills on flood-proofing;
- To identify flood relief centres and make them known in advance;
- To improve METS Malaysia’s weather predicting capabilities;
- To ensure that NADMAs Relief strategy is updated and widely circulated and that NADMA consists of a unit with highly skilled military and emergency services officials;
– , :
- To create an effective legal mechanism for integrating policies and mechanisms for flood management, like the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in the UK;
- To stop all logging activities in upstream areas. This will prevent mud and debris from clogging rivers with excess water flowing to the lower plains;
- To create more large-sized underground storage schemes underneath fields and stadiums to store stormwater runoff to reduce downstream flooding risk during severe rainfall events;
- To use porous asphalt to allow water to penetrate underground stormwater management facilities;
- To implement green infrastructure. Rain gardens, green roofs and vegetation can help reduce runoff;
- To adopt sponge city concepts. It strengthens ecological infrastructure and drainage systems not only to alleviate flooding but also to tackle shortages of water resources.