Almost every year, floods happen and we see flood relief centers, pay outs to victims, and billions of ringgits loss suffered by victims and even government.
Floods, unlike earthquakes, can be dealt with. The reasons for flooding is when too much water that rivers cannot handle, or too much water that the drainage system cannot handle(reason for flash floods). We know that by reason of deforestation and the debris entering our rivers, rivers become shallower and it affects the speed/capacity of rivers ...Roads that get cut off by floods could be 'raised' and/or diverted. Problem is also with local development plans, that have been allowing the filling up of them swamps, low lands that acted as natural 'flood mitigators' .. Who should be responsible? It is reasonably the LOCAL GOVERNMENT (the local councils) and the State governments...but the Federal Government can also step in...as floods also impacts on national economy, communication, etc... [A politically appointed Local Government, that is not democratically elected is a MAJOR PROBLEM - what is happening to all the peoples' monies collected - why was it not used to reduce impact of the Floods? [Some say that past governments and politicians loved FLOODS...then they can go out there and show people they CARE..it is also a great opportunity to get 'monies' - are you sure all them 'monies' go to victims?
Among measures that could be taken to reduce the problem of floods were implementing more flood mitigation projects, deepening rivers and other waterways like in Kedah and building tunnels like Kuala Lumpur's SMART Tunnel for flood management in high-risk urban areas such as Shah Alam in Selangor. "For low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, we can revisit the flood resettlement programme implemented in the 1970s.
Ismail Sabri said modules adopted by other countries could also be considered if suitable for implementation in Malaysia, including the "sponge city" concept used in China to help slow the flow of flood waters or the river dikes of the Netherlands.
I was a flood victim this year - I lost my sofa set, my refrigerator, washing machine, computers, computers, books and documents, furniture, etc ...Will RM500 or RM1,500 cover the losses? Likewise, the many flood victims out there ... If what Ismail Sabri is proposing was done much earlier, we would have ended so much suffering due to floods...
If the LOCAL GOVERNMENT cannot do it, will it ask for HELP? If the State government cannot do, will it ask for HELP? Remember, we are a FEDERATION of States, and Federal Government, State Government and Local Government have their clear roles and duties...
Government seeking long-term solutions to flood problem, says PM
- Nation
-
Saturday, 01 Jan 2022
PUTRAJAYA, Dec 31 -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob addressing the 2022 New Year Special Message today. --fotoBERNAMA (2021) COPYRIGHT RESERVED
TEMERLOH: The government is focusing on seeking comprehensive long-term solutions to the flood problem to reduce risks and the number of affected locations in future disasters, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).
The prime minister said this would be the main agenda of the National Disaster Management Committee once the post-flood operations were completed, and it would involve state governments, government ministries and agencies, as well as experts in related fields.
"We will seek out and discuss whatever modules that are suitable to resolve this problem, and if it cannot be implemented simultaneously throughout the country, focus will be given to districts or areas at high risk of flooding.
"A long-term plan involves huge costs but it helps to reduce the costs incurred by the government each time it floods.
"So far, we have spent RM1.4bil on aid alone and this amount is expected to increase because we have not yet received the full report on damage," he said.
Ismail Sabri said this plan for long-term solutions was discussed during the time of the Barisan Nasional government but it was not continued.
Among measures that could be taken to reduce the problem of floods were implementing more flood mitigation projects, deepening rivers and other waterways like in Kedah and building tunnels like Kuala Lumpur's SMART Tunnel for flood management in high-risk urban areas such as Shah Alam in Selangor.
"For low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, we can revisit the flood resettlement programme implemented in the 1970s.
"This calls for discussions with state governments to identify suitable high grounds and the Federal government can help in terms of allocations," he said
Ismail Sabri said modules adopted by other countries could also be considered if suitable for implementation in Malaysia, including the "sponge city" concept used in China to help slow the flow of flood waters or the river dikes of the Netherlands.
The prime minister also expressed his gratitude to all parties, including government-linked companies (GLC), non-governmental organisations (NGO), volunteers and individuals who had not only extended aid to flood victims but also participated in post-flood operations.
On demands by certain quarters for the government to allow a RM10,000 one-off withdrawal under the Employees Provident Fund's i-Citra scheme although flood aid given had exceeded RM10,000, Ismail Sabri said he only wanted to protect the people's interests.
"... those who are not satisfied, who criticise will continue to behave this way on social media. Everyone has his own duty. I hope we will not be affected by the attacks because we are doing our duty. This will not deter me from continuing to do my work," he said.
Ismail Sabri said this at a media conference after presenting aid under the Keluarga Malaysia Flood Relief Mission, comprising compassionate aid of RM1,000 from the Federal government and RM500 from the Pahang government, and necessities to 600 heads of households affected by floods at Dewan MPT Dataran Datuk Bahaman in Lanchang here on Saturday (Jan 1).
Also present
were Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, Chief
Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, Pahang state
secretary Datuk Seri Dr Sallehuddin Ishak and state Tourism, Culture,
Environment, Plantation and Commodities Committee chairman Datuk Seri
Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin. - Star, 1/1/2022
Govt seeking long-term solutions to floods, says PM
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TEMERLOH: The government is focusing on comprehensive long-term solutions to the flood problem to reduce risks and the number of affected locations in future, says Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Ismail said the measures could include more flood mitigation projects, deepening rivers and other waterways and building tunnels such as Kuala Lumpur’s SMART Tunnel for flood management in high-risk urban areas such as Shah Alam.
Methods adopted by other countries could also be considered if suitable for Malaysia, including the “sponge city” concept used in China to help slow the flow of flood waters, or the river dikes of the Netherlands.
“We will seek out and discuss whatever methods that are suitable to resolve this problem, and if it cannot be implemented simultaneously throughout the country, focus will be given to districts or areas that are at high risk of flooding.
“For low-lying areas prone to flooding, we can revisit the flood resettlement programme implemented in the 1970s.
“This calls for discussions with state governments to identify suitable high grounds. The federal government can help in terms of allocations,” he said.
Ismail said this at a media conference after presenting aid under the Keluarga Malaysia flood relief mission, comprising compassionate aid of RM1,000 from the federal government and RM500 from the Pahang government, and necessities to 600 heads of households affected by floods.
“Any long-term plan involves huge costs but it helps to reduce the costs incurred by the government each time it floods.
“So far, we have spent RM1.4 billion on aid alone. This amount is expected to increase because we have not yet received the full report on the damage caused by the floods,” he said.
Also present at the event were Pahang menteri besar Wan Rosdy Wan
Ismail, chief secretary to the government Mohd Zuki Ali, Pahang state
secretary Sallehuddin Ishak and state tourism, culture, environment,
plantation and commodities committee chairman Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin. - FMT, 1/1/2022
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