PETALING JAYA: The massive flooding and multiple landslides that have swept across the country must serve as a wake-up call for Malaysia to rethink disaster preparedness and prevention, say environmental groups.

       They also called for greater scrutiny on development at environmentally sensitive areas.

       With Malaysia already struggling to enter the endemic phase of Covid-19 with the Omicron variant threat looming over the country, the recent natural disasters have exacerbated the nation’s fragile health and socio-economic fabric, said the Global Environment Centre (GEC).

       Its director Faizal Parish said global climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of thunderstorms in South-East Asia, generating extreme rainfall events and putting people at severe risk of natural disasters.

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       “The country must rethink its flood prevention, mitigation and preparedness approach while ensuring coordinated implementation.

       “We must stop the clearance and conversion of catchment forests and peatlands that protect our cities and villages from floods.

       “Once forests are cleared, runoff can increase by five to 10 times, and eroded soil can clog rivers and drains,” he said in a recent statement.

       Other important flood prevention measures include regular cleaning and desilting of rivers and drains, and protecting river buffers or corridors where developments are not allowed, he said, adding that natural flood retention zones should also be enhanced along rivers and urban areas.

       GEC’s river care programme manager Dr Kalithasan Kailasam said massive flooding will no longer be a once-in-a-century weather event, and is expected to happen more frequently.

       The water and river management expert said climate change has altered the rainfall pattern in Malaysia, and thus, developments should be stopped at flood-prone areas and vulnerable communities should be steadily moved out.

       “Unless our communities are flood-proofed, our infrastructures well-prepared and catchments and wetlands protected, we will be increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of flooding, as shown recently,” he said.

       He added that although Malaysia has a good flood prediction and monitoring system, the main issue is in ensuring fast and effective communication and information dissemination from relevant agencies to the public.

       Enhancing people’s resilience towards flooding and ensuring appropriate responses to disaster warnings are also crucial, said Kalithasan.

       “Everyone must play a role in flood management, especially at local levels, and we can’t leave everything to the government.

       “Communities in flood-prone areas need to self-organise by establishing their own community flood preparedness groups,” he added.

       Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenakshi Raman said given the recent floods and the likelihood of more incidents of extreme rainfall events, it is even more imperative that highlands and hill slopes are protected, while banning developments for private purposes.

       She said the group totally opposed any development on sensitive hill lands as past tragedies caused by such projects had claimed many lives and destroyed much property.

       “Hillside developments pose environmental and social impacts such as soil erosion, landslides, landslips, unstable soil and negative impacts from any blasting works.

       “Development on hills and highlands must be strictly controlled to ensure public safety and to maintain the pristine quality of the environment and biodiversity,” she said.

       Further, all forested areas must be conserved and protected to ward off the impact of climate change, Meenakshi added.

       Association for the Protection of the Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka) president Puan Sri Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil expressed concern over local councils being given too much leeway in deciding on development projects.

       “Especially since they are not locally elected but are government appointees.

       “At this moment, where most of our forest has already been logged, any project that encroaches into any forest, reserved or otherwise, should also not be approved,” she said.

       She also cited tragic deaths caused by hillside developments such as those in Tanjung Bungah, Penang, which claimed 11 lives in 2017; in Bukit Kukus, Penang, where nine died in 2018; as well as in Kuala Terla, Cameron Highlands, where three workers were killed.

       “Unless one has the expertise to deal with the problems, one should not try it,” she added.