After Dec floods, govt to prep Malaysians for climate change with school classes

The government today acknowledged that climate change is one factor that is causing floods in the country.

In response, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government will make disaster response a primary subject at all levels of education.

"The government realises that climate change is also a factor of flooding in the country.

"In relation to this, the creation of a primary subject in responding to disasters at all levels of education, schools, colleges, and universities, will be implemented so that the entire Keluarga Malaysia can adapt to this as a new norm," he said in a statement today.

The statement was a breakdown of a government disaster management committee meeting yesterday.

A tropical depression triggered devastating flash floods in the Klang Valley and surrounding areas last December.

Experts have said that the extreme weather event had highlighted the impacts of climate change.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Previously in April last year, Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan said Malaysia was not vulnerable to climate change, triggering a backlash that critics cited when the December floods occurred.

However, Tuan Ibrahim appeared to change his tune during last month's special Parliament session on the floods.

At that time, he announced the formation of a climate change committee, which would ensure that Malaysia adapts to climate change in order to reduce the impact of floods and other natural disasters.

However, during the same sitting, Ismail Sabri made no mention of the tropical depression or climate change in his speech.

Instead, he spent most of the speech blaming the poor disaster response in Selangor on district and state authorities, emphasising his busy schedule during the disaster and outlining various aids for flood victims.

In a related development, the prime minister in the same statement said the government had resolved several strategies proposed by the National Disaster Management Agency on how to improve its disaster response.

This includes improving a community disaster response and relief efforts in an attempt to localise disaster management.

Further, all ministries and agencies have been encouraged to allocate five percent of their budgets for the purpose of disaster management.

The government also agreed in principle to 17 suggestions by the Environment and Water Ministry, which included building more stormwater management and road tunnels (Smart tunnels) in an effort to mitigate future floods. - Mkini