KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — The Ministry of Environment and Water (Kasa) has implemented flood disaster risk assessment based on climate change projections made through flood hazard maps and flood risk map initiatives.
Its minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, said under the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), a flood disaster risk assessment covering 36 major river basins nationwide had been developed.
“For the Klang Valley area, a flood hazard map for six river basins has been developed while a flood risk map involving the Sungai Bernam basin has also been developed,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question from Parit MP Datuk Mohd Nizar Zakaria, who asked about the government’s study on the possibility of drastic climate change causing natural disasters to happen more frequently as well as the level of preparedness of the national disaster warning system.
Tuan Ibrahim said DID and the Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) always expedite, maintain and improve the level of readiness of the early warning system under their supervision.
He said MetMalaysia’s eight new radar systems for Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak under the 11th and 12th Malaysia Plans are expected to be fully completed this year, to add to the 11 existing radar systems.
“Besides that, DID also implements a flood forecast and warning programme which aims to provide early warning to agencies related to disaster management and the public.
“Sirens will be sounded when the water level exceeds a certain threshold value to give early warning to locals, with flood forecasts as early as seven days and warning as early as two days provided to locations expected to face flooding,” he said.
He said currently the system was operating in the Sungai Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu basins with an accuracy of 65 per cent while the warning system under the National Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre for other states nationwide was being upgraded.
— Bernama
