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Disasters Worldwide and Floods in the Malaysian Region: a Brief Review

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Disasters Worldwide and Floods in the Malaysian Region: a Brief Review ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846 Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 10(2), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2017/v10i2/110385, January 2017 ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645 Disasters Worldwide and Floods in the Malaysian Region: A Brief Review Syed Muzzamil Hussain Shah, Zahiraniza Mustaffa* and Khamaruzaman Wan Yusof Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract Background/Objectives: To gather the information on the natural disasters occurred Worldwide from the year 2004 to Malaysia. Methods: 2013 Average and 2014 and emphasizes on the disaster type which has severely affected the continent Asia, ­­particularly, This paper collects all the information about major overflows in the history of Malaysia and gathers the facts about the official flood loss estimates for the selected major flood events from the year 1967 to 2012. It further provides information on the general causes and effects of floods and explains about the flood mitigation measures being used in this region. Additionally, it explains about the allocation ofFindings: funds for flood mitigation measures by the Malaysian government under the Malaysia plan (1971 to 2020) and enlightens the responsibility of the government agencies accountable to the mitigation measures during the flooding conditions. Experiences from past floods, demonstrate that a common hazard which causes risk of death or serious injury to the people is due to the instability of vehicles in floodwaters. Therefore, the stability of vehicles during urban flood events has aroused recent interest from the Environmental Agency fatalities.in the United Application: Kingdom and other flood management authorities around the World. However, it is still believed that there is a need of an Integrated Smart Alarm System that can be used in the flood prone regions to minimize the vehicle related To provide researchers, government agencies and decision makers etc., an overview on the most notableKeywords: disaster type which has severely affected the Malaysian region. Disasters Worldwide, Major Overflows in Malaysian History, Vehicle Related Fatalities 1. Introduction 2014, a total of 324 disasters were reported which affected nearly 141 million people Worldwide. Table 1 shows the The definition of disasters defined by the Malaysian regional figures about the occurrence of natural disas- National Security Council (MNSC) directive 20 (2003) ters and its impact by each continent. Globally, among states that “an emergency situation that will cause the 324 natural disasters that occurred in the year 2014, the loss of lives, damage property and the environment, and hydrological disasters (flood, landslide and wave action) hamper local, social, and economic activities”. During took the largest share of 153 events (47.2%) out of which the period of 1947 to 1981, the World witnessed a total 65 events were reported to occur in the continent Asia. of 554 hydrological disasters (floods and cyclones) and In the same year, the number of victims affected by the 208 geological disasters (earthquake, volcanic eruption impact of hydrological disasters Worldwide were counted and landslides). Within these two categories floods were to be 42.28 million out of which 37.10 million victims were the most frequent natural disasters followed by tropical reported from the continent Asia which is indeed alarm- cyclones and earthquakes1. In the 20th century, floods ing. Similarly, the estimated economic loss (US $ billion) alone have been reported responsible for the death of 08 caused by the hydrological disasters altogether in the entire million people Worldwide2, 3. World in the year 2014, was estimated to be 37.39 US $ bil- Figure 1 shows the number of reported disasters and lion out of which 29.42 US $ billion were to be borne by the victims from the year 1990 to 2014. Particularly in the year continent Asia. Moreover, the Average (2004 to 2013) result *Author for correspondence Disasters Worldwide and Floods in the Malaysian Region: A Brief Review also shows that the continent Asia has remained constantly 2. Floods History in Malaysia prone to hydrological disasters which had destructive impacts on it. Additionally, among the hydrological disas- Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia with an area of ters, floods are said to be most lethal when compared to nearly 330000 km2. The average precipitation is between any other natural disaster type as shown in Figure 24. 2000 mm to 4000 mm with the temperature ranging Floods can effectively be described as natural disasters between 26°C to 32°C all over the region7. The Malaysian that affect, as well as is affected by human activities, partic- climate has three attributes that is uniform temperature, ularly, physical development5. It is a progressive abnormal high humidity and copious rainfall – round the year8. increase in the elevation of the surface level of a stream’s The country is blessed that it is not directly influenced flow until it reaches an extreme height from which the by the calamities like hurricanes, tornados, typhoon, level gradually drops to what was its usual level6. volcanic eruptions9 and earthquakes10 but there are two significant water related problems causing adverse impact to this country that is excess water in terms of floods and water shortage in terms of droughts. Among these two significant causes, floods are considered to be the most notable natural disasters in Malaysia in terms of duration, frequency, area extent, affecting popula- tion and damaging the socio economic structure of the country11. There are a total of 189 river basins throughout Malaysia out of which 89 are in peninsular Malaysia, 78 in Sabah, and 22 in Sarawak. The main channels of these Figure 1. Number of reported victims and disasters from river basins are flowing directly to the South China Sea. 1990 to 20144. Approximately, 85 of the river basins (45%) are marked prone to the regular flooding12, 13. The approximate esti- mated area inclined to flood disaster is 28900 km2 or 9% of the total area of Malaysia which is affecting almost 4.82 million people, that counts nearly 22% of the total popu- lation of the country14, 15. Historically, the Malaysian people are considered to be the riverine people as the early settlement grew on the river banks but still nearly 3.5 million people are reported to be residing on the flood plains which is undeniably 16 Figure 2. Mortality by disaster type4. frightening . Table 1. Natural disaster occurrence and impacts: Regional figures4 The regional figures about the occurrence of natural disasters for the year 2014 and average 2004-2013 No. of Natural Disasters Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Global Climatological 2014 5 9 5 1 1 21 Average 2004-2013 13 9 5 4 1 32 Geophysical 2014 4 8 17 2 1 32 Average 2004-2013 2 6 21 2 2 33 Hydrological 2014 24 31 65 29 4 153 Average 2004-2013 45 38 83 20 5 192 Meteorological 2014 6 28 57 22 5 118 Average 2004-2013 9 38 47 28 6 127 Total 2014 39 76 144 54 11 324 Average 2004-2013 69 91 156 54 14 384 2 Vol 10 (2) | January 2017 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology Syed Muzzamil Hussain Shah, Zahiraniza Mustaffa and Khamaruzaman Wan Yusof The regional figures about the people affected by natural disasters for the year 2014 and average 2004-2013 No. of Victims (Millions) Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Global Climatological 2014 6.61 29.73 31.73 0.00 0.00 68.06 Average 2004-2013 24.24 1.84 26.83 0.12 0.00 53.03 Geophysical 2014 0.01 0.62 2.65 0.08 0.00 3.36 Average 2004-2013 0.05 0.94 7.51 0.02 0.07 8.59 Hydrological 2014 0.98 1.44 37.10 2.68 0.08 42.28 Average 2004-2013 3.23 4.48 86.07 0.32 0.08 94.19 Meteorological 2014 0.13 0.37 26.33 0.11 0.09 27.03 Average 2004-2013 0.35 2.56 40.30 0.19 0.04 43.43 Total 2014 7.74 32.16 97.80 2.87 0.17 140.74 Average 2004-2013 27.86 9.82 160.71 0.64 0.19 199.23 The regional figures about the damages caused by natural disasters for the year 2014 and average 2004-2013 Damages (2014 US $ Billions) Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Global Climatological 2014 0.00 7.43 3.71 0.15 0.03 11.31 Average 2004-2013 0.05 4.40 1.12 1.74 0.29 7.60 Geophysical 2014 0.00 0.80 5.93 0.63 0.00 7.36 Average 2004-2013 0.08 4.48 40.93 2.00 2.62 50.12 Hydrological 2014 0.12 2.31 29.42 5.52 0.02 37.39 Average 2004-2013 0.35 5.11 19.32 5.19 1.32 31.32 Meteorological 2014 0.39 15.21 25.03 1.48 1.03 43.14 Average 2004-2013 0.09 53.98 13.87 4.52 1.03 73.48 Total 2014 0.51 25.76 64.08 7.77 1.08 99.20 Average 2004-2013 0.58 67.97 75.27 13.45 5.26 162.53 The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), Since 1920, Malaysia has experienced a series of Malaysia has categorized floods into two categories that is floods. The recent monsoon flood from December 2014 flash floods and monsoon floods. Based on the hydrologi- and January 2015 are regarded as one of the most shat- cal perspective, the difference between the flash floods and tering floods to strike Malaysia.
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