By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, Jan 21 — Four locations located in Selangor and Cambodia has been chosen as research sites for a study on disaster risk reduction, says the Selangor Disaster Management Unit.
Its head Ahmad Fairuz Mohd Yusof said that the areas include Kuala Selangor, Shah Alam, Bukit Antarabangsa and a village in Cambodia called Kampong Speu, which was said to often face natural disasters.
“The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative will conduct the three-year study in collaboration with the Geological Society of Malaysia, Malaysian Disaster Risk Reduction Services Organisation, and the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“The project will study the causes of immediate disasters or risks such as flash floods and landslides.
“It will also look into other risks such as rising sea level and groundwater salinity by using geographic information systems as well as public resources,” said Ahmad Fairuz at the Social Entrepreneurship in Disaster Risk Management workshop at Concorde Hotel, here today.
Ahmad Fairuz added that the project would be able to assist the state government and the Kampong Speu province in formulating a strategy on disaster risk management that would benefit 5.79 million people in Selangor and about 700,000 others in Cambodia.
In October 2019, Selangor had identified 79 flood-prone areas in nine districts based on the forecast by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET Malaysia) of expected heavy rainfall from October to December, last year.
The districts were listed to be flood-prone include Petaling, Klang, Hulu Langat, Gombak, Kuala Langat, Hulu Selangor, Sepang, Kuala Selangor, and Sabak Bernam.
Meanwhile, according to data from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), the MET Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) published in the DID’s annual reports from 2014 to 2018 as well as its incident reports, a total of 1,228 flash floods in 543 locations throughout the Klang Valley was recorded from beginning of 2014 to end-2018.
Out of the 543 locations, 186 have been hit by flash floods more than once.
In the DID 2017/2018 report, three main factors were identified as the cause of flash floods in the city centre, including the rapid pace of development, faulty drainage system, and rapid water flow and sedimentation due to rapid development near water catchment areas.
