THE recent floods in Selangor, especially that in Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam, clearly showed the impact on people and their properties of not being prepared or vigilant.

Many government officials issued statements that flood warnings were announced to the residents of Sri Muda, but that people were ignorant about them.

In another report, the habit of discarding rubbish into rivers has been highlighted as the main cause of the recent floods. In other words, the government is putting the onus on the people.

To investigate the so-called ‘warning’ regarding the floods by certain government agencies, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) went to the ground to investigate the claim. Random interviews were done among the residents in Taman Sri Muda.

Surprisingly, all of them claimed they were not aware of the warnings. The residents also reiterated that if they had received warnings, they would have definitely tried to save their cars and belongings. They said they would also have placed their families in secure or higher ground, as well as prepared some rations to endure the difficult times.

Many residents also mentioned that they had faced floods before, but not as severely as with the recent one. Knee-deep or main road flooding is quite common in this area.

A majority of the residents were not aware about the area’s flood history as many residents moved there only over the last seven to eight years. They were caught by surprise that floods of more than two meters, which is indeed extraordinary, could occur here, and in these modern times.

The residents in Sri Muda complained that there was no official warning announcement made regarding the floods. No sign boards warning them that they were residing in a flood-prone area were erected to alert them. In addition, no flood warning sirens were installed in or near the area, which was another mind-boggling factor to them.

Considering the feedback from the residents, although extraordinary rainfall had caused the floods, early warnings could have prevented the loss of lives and properties. Evidently, the people in this area were neither aware of nor informed later about how devastating the floods could be there.

‘Lackadaisical’

So, stop blaming the people. Those in power and authority, you are the perpetrators who failed to do the jobs assigned to you properly. A warning system not installed, missing water pumps, officials on holiday even though they know this weather can cause floods, missing politicians, and a lack of assistance and coordination. These clearly show how lackadaisical the government is in its work.

An investigation should be conducted to find out who were supposed to raise the alert. Why were no lessons learnt from the area’s flood history? Why did the National Disaster Management Agency’s (Nadma) assets come only after two days of floods?

Heads must roll so that eligible persons with expertise in crisis management are appointed to safeguard lives and properties. Nadma must be revamped with experts in this field and represented by all the important stakeholders, from academicians, businesses, NGOs and other relevant agencies.

Flood-prone areas should have local coordinating agencies on standby for all possible scenarios. Nadma also can utilise experts from the army, navy and air force for better, freer coordination without political intervention.

Most importantly, Nadma should be free from political appointments and headed by (if possible) by the Agong.

The government announced one-off cash assistance of RM 1,000 to all the households affected by the flood. This is a daylight cover-up, where the real perpetrators are trying to cover up the real cause of the floods’ loss.

The handout is way too little compared to the actual loss of properties. Estimated property losses range from RM 50,000 for those without vehicles and more than RM150,000 for those with vehicles. This figure may go up multi-fold for businessmen.

Regrettably, the RM 1,000 offered by the government will not help at all, especially with the current food price inflation, which means the money will only last a few days.

After the floods, many house owners started to increase rents, as there was a demand for houses since many people in flood-affected areas were contemplating moving out. Besides that, we also received many reports regarding increases in the prices of household products, such as cleaning tools, utensils, furniture, bedding and so on.

The majority of the residents in Sri Muda are from the B40 bracket. Many are making their ends meet by working in the factories near the area. Some of them purchased furniture through easy-payment plans offered by companies such as Courts, Singer, etc. To make things worse, even though they had to throw away their damaged furniture after the flood, they still have to continue paying for them, because they bought them through instalments. It is not going to be easy for them to lead a normal life especially in post-pandemic times when many have lost incomes or have reduced incomes.

Demand more

Those affected by the floods, do not be complacent with the government’s offering. Demand more as the root cause of your loss is the lackadaisical attitude of the government of the day. The failure to take action falls on them.

They should have anticipated the problems and prepared early before the floods occurred. How many millions in tax payers’ money has been wasted to appoint so called experts in government departments? This flood scenario shows that these people need to step down. The government needs to seriously address the appointments of those heading important posts, which involves making important decisions that directly affect the whole nation.

Many of those affected by the floods were not insured, either, as they were not aware their area was flood-prone. A majority of them were also not informed that they needed to add on for flood coverage. Many new car owners revealed that their car dealers or insurance agents did not even advise them on flood coverage.

There is lack of awareness among the people about the fine print in insurance products, and the terminologies used are not easy for the public at large to understand. Homeowners were also confused by type of house insurance they had and how to claim for compensation.

‘Not a 100% natural disaster’

Nevertheless, an important issue needs to be raised: this is not a 100% natural disaster. The failure of the government to take action is the ultimate root cause, and the floods could have been avoided if early warning was given to the people in Sri Muda and its surrounds.

The government should increase the cash aid given to those affected by the floods. A minimum of RM 10,000 should be offered to those who were affected by the floods.

The government also needs to establish an investigation team to study the failures (a post-mortem) so that we can be well prepared for the next calamity. Lives could have been saved if the proper mechanism was in place to mitigate the floods’ effects.

The investigation must also look into the procedure for releasing dam water during floods. The decision to release dam water during the heavy downpour had led an area that is not flood-prone being flooded. The people here were caught by surprise when the water started to rise, as there was no warning.

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) is also to be blamed for the flood incident. DID failed to mitigate the flood situation. They failed to inform and advise the government. Knowing the situation very well, the government, through DID, must take charge and focus on expanding the drains in all flood-prone areas. They have to put their thinking caps on and find ways to prevent the flood menace from happening in the future.

Revamp Nadma. It must be headed by experts and a professional team capable of handling such situations. Remember, the rakyat trusts you to lead the government, to ensure their lives are protected.

This message is intended not only for the politicians, but for those civil servants entrusted with the responsibility of coming up with proper policies and action plans that work.

Please do not blame the people for the floods.

Last but not least, Fomca would like to thank the people who came forward to assist during and after the floods. We realised that the people have more of a sense of responsibility that the lackadaisical government. Even though they were many hurdles in reaching out to victims affected by the floods, our rakyat managed to be innovative, creative and took huge risks to assist the needy.

We hope, in future, these people can be trained by the armed forces in disaster management skills.

*Saravanan Thambirajah is chief executive officer of Fomca.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.