It didn’t have to happen.
Yet another 4 people were killed and 40,000 others displaced just a few weeks ago in the latest flash flood disaster—which happens so fast that there is almost never time for those at risk to evacuate.
Disaster at Home
For Muhammad, this latest incident hit much too close to home for comfort.
A father married with two boys, Muhammad was returning from his job in Singapore to his family in Batu Pahat, Malaysia, as he does every weekend.
But instead of being greeted by the smiles of his family, he was confronted a scene of chaos and destruction.
Everything seemed changed. Roads and village homes were replaced by a featureless blanket of murky ochre, floating debris, and desperation. Thoughts to call his family raced in mind but he had acted on it to no avail, and the only people he saw were a few neighbours struggling to safely get around the treacherous waters that concealed dangerous undertows which threatened to sweep unlucky souls to their doom without warning or pity.
Unable to stem his rising anxiety after again failing to contact his wife through their home fixed-line and her mobile phone, Muhammad boarded the first boat he could muster and hastily joined a search party who were on patrol for victims.
Sixteen hours had passed, but to his relief, his wife finally called him back. She and the family had been safely moved to a temporary relief centre and did not get the chance to get in touch with him sooner due to the urgency of the situation. He relaxed his grip on the boat’s steering motor and let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over.
A Solution We Can All Work Towards
Muhammad may have been lucky, but too many have not.
As terrible as the reality of flash floods is, it is infuriating knowing that preventing these disasters and saving lives is so simple: to stop littering and not clog up emergency drainage systems. It’s easy to play the blame game and point a finger at the town and district members for neglecting maintenance.
But if everyone just disposed of their trash properly, the drains would probably not get clogged in the first place. There are plenty of other reasons for not littering, including sanitary and even aesthetic ones.
Thoughtless deforestation to feed wasteful paper consumption also contributes significantly to the buildup of such disasters, as it destroys the natural barriers that slow the movement of water so that they don’t reach dangerous speeds while giving a chance for the drainage systems to work; overwhelming the system and causing up rivers or sewage drains to overflow during torrential rains—which in turn increases the risks of drowning and creating poor sanitary
conditions.
But although acting on deforestation may be out of the control of the average person, reining our litter is something that we all can definitely do, which in this case gives new meaning to “killer litter”: not from the sky, but under and on the ground.
An Ongoing Disaster
The truth is, floods and flash floods are not uncommon occurrences in Malaysia. They have been going on for years – and each time it comes around to wreak havoc in people’s lives. The worst flooding in Johor happened only two years back in 2021, which killed 54 and displaced 40,000.
The situation has become so unbearable that the Sultan of Johor himself has publicly directed criticism towards all who were implicit in the problem and expressed regret for littering into drains, ditches, and rivers.
In response, the local government has enacted new initiatives to clean up the litter problem. Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi declared the 2nd of July 2022 to be the 100-Day Clean Johor campaign.
In 2023, Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced that the government would reinforce the indiscriminate disposal of garbage under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 – which, from the 5th of February onwards, offenders in Johor faced an RM500 fine if caught violating this law.
On the 23rd of February 2023, Datuk Asman Shah Abd Rahman backed this move by announcing that offenders in the Pasir Gudang area also face an RM500 fine if caught from the 1st of March.
Taking Responsibility
While the claims may ring true that the state’s drainage systems may not be as adequate as necessary, the severity of the floods can be traced to irresponsibility and lack of environmental conscientiousness.
If we all were to chip in and do our part then maybe, just “maybe”, we could prevent this pointless loss of lives from happening again and again. And “maybe” is all anyone should need to change their mind.