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TEJ KUMAR KARKI: Hello, my name is Tej Karki.
I'm a visiting scholar in the MIT-UTM Malaysian Sustainable
Cities Program.
I welcome viewers to watch this video about the challenges
of urban flooding in Malaysia.
Floods are the third most destructive disaster
in the world, after storms and earthquakes.
In Malaysia, floods account for 90% of natural disasters.
The average annual costs of flood damage
are over $100 million US.
In this video,
I will show how residents and local authorities
dealt with floods in Kota Tinggi town in southern Malaysia,
and what the global community can learn from this experience.
The key message is that this video provides
is that the residents and local authorities
should not only strengthen their ability
to deal with flood disasters, but also
communicate with each other and take joint action.
From December 2006 to January 2007,
huge floods that would normally be
expected to occur every 50 years,
occurred twice in Kota Tinggi.
Heavy monsoon rain poured continuously
for five days in mid December 2006.
The rain prompted huge flooding in the area.
Upstream flood control dams failed
to contain the excess water.
As a result, the downstream Johor river water levels
rose rapidly and flooded all of Kota Tinggi.
For one week, the town was under water.
Two weeks later, the rain started again
and lasted four days.
Since the soil was already saturated with water
from the previous flood, it could not
absorb any more flood water.
As a result, this rain generated an even deeper and more
widespread flood in the area.
Between the two flood events, over 5,000 residents
were evacuated.
Fifteen people were killed, and $44 million US of property
was damaged.
Many town residents did not receive early warning messages
in time.
The huge unexpected flood shocked both the town residents
and local authorities.
Some residents left for shelters,
some were stranded on roofs, and others
sheltered in tall buildings near their home.
Those who took refuse in the houses of their loved ones
were also flooded.
Eventually, they had to go to shelters.
Many were not able to protect valuable assets
like cars and furniture.
One resident, who was on a trip abroad during the flood
incident, lost everything.
Another resident's downtown boutique shop
went completely underwater.
Those residents who were busy praying inside their homes
did not anticipate that the flood would rise
so fast in their front yard.
Those who did not go to the shelter in the daytime
had difficulty getting rescued at night.
Most residents were not trained in how to respond to flooding.
The households did not discuss flood issues
with their neighbors, and they acted individually.
The flood victims rescue needs far
exceeded the ability of the Kota Tinggi district authority.
The firefighters had limited resources
to respond to mounting calls for rescue.
SPEAKER: (Non-English)
TEJ KUMAR KARKI: Most city transport routes and vehicles
were inundated causing a disruption
in the supply of basic goods.
Because of the disruption in the supply,
the local authorities had a hard time meeting demand for food.
Providing clean water and better sanitation
were are other challenges.
More importantly, the town itself
is located in a flood risk area.
It sits largely on a flood plain near the Johor river
that is often inundated due to high tides.
Even so, the local zoning map does not show flood risk areas
in the town.
New housing developments are now under way in areas that
were heavily inundated in 2006.
Furthermore, most houses developed in flood risk areas
have low [INAUDIBLE].
Private housing developers prefer
building low [INAUDIBLE] to minimize construction costs
and maximize profits.
This development trend makes the ground floor
vulnerable to any ordinary flooding in the area.
This goes against the traditional Malaysian practice
of building houses on stilts.
For cities and towns in the global south,
the Malaysian experience reveals three priorities
for flood preparedness-- educating and empowering
local residents, strengthening the capacity
of local authorities, and improving local zoning
regulations.
First, the local authorities should educate and involve
local residents in all flood related issues.
This would encourage the residents
to form a neighborhood level flood prevention community.
Second, the authorities should establish a reliable flood
warning system.
They should make sure that firefighters
have enough equipment, manpower, and advanced training
to respond and rescue.
The firefighters should work with local residents,
train them, and develop a joint strategy on coping with floods.
Finally, plenty authorities should create a zoning map
that shows flood risk areas in town
and that prohibits new development
in those risky areas.
They should provide monetary incentives to residents
to raise their house floors above the ground.
The authorities should relocate and resettle residents
living in flood prone areas to higher ground.
The experiences presented above showed
that the residents, as well as local authorities
need to strengthen their ability to deal
with flood disasters in cities.
However, their strengths will not be as effective
if they act separately.
Both the city residents and local authorities
should work together, talk to each other,
learn from each other, and act collectively
to find ways to deal with flood disaster.
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