Floods play out the same every year. The initial stories we see are about heavy rains and rising river water levels. Then we start seeing videos and photos of water flowing into the front gates and doors of houses, which is usually followed by social media postings of cars door -deep in water in the cities and towns. The cities and towns are the same too, usually in Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Kedah, and Perlis. Then our political leaders will release statements of how they have ordered the different assets available to focus on rescue and evacuation.
Source: https://www.wikiimpact.com
The authorities will also start updating the public on different sets of data like weather reports, the number of households affected, the number of evacuation centres being set up, and sometimes the death toll.
What comes next is predictable. The same political leaders will start visiting the affected areas and promise cash aid of RM1,000 or something like that for each household. Photos and videos of them in life jackets on boats, or wearing boots wading through knee-high flood waters in between kampung houses will start appearing in the news.
As the days go by, resilient stories start appearing in the media. There will be photo essays and videos of children playing in the flood waters like it’s swimming pool, diving off roofs or traffic light posts and motorcycles dragging children in makeshift water skis usually made of basins. And stories of villagers fixing empty barrels to the bottom of beds and home appliances to keep them afloat will also appear.
Why can’t there be more steps that will help prevent the floods from ever happening? Or, at least from getting worse each year? Can’t our government and authorities spend more resources on thinking about proactive measures rather than reactive efforts? Don’t we have the technology to develop and improve our drainage systems? Can’t we build better flood- preventing dams and levees.
How about ceasing indiscriminate logging? We should have the capability of determining areas that are prone to flooding and just simply not build homes! What the country needs is a proper, long-term flood mitigation effort where all the relevant parties like the state and federal governments and communities involved work together more efficiently and effectively. We should put as much resources as possible into prevention and proactive efforts as we do for our annual rescue and evacuation efforts. Then, there is, of course, Kelantan which is resigned to its fate and is now planning to monetise its monsoon season into a tourism product!
Reference:
Comment: It’s flood season… again! Zan Azlee, Malaysiakini, 1 December 2024
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