Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced that his government plans to allocate additional cash for disaster management and rescue operations, following this season’s monsoonal floods, which have been more severe than anticipated.
Anwar, who serves as both finance minister and prime minister, said in parliament on Tuesday that the government has given the National Disaster Management Agency 400 million ringgit ($90 million) for early preparedness programs in flood zones.
According to Bernama, annual floods in Malaysia have compelled more than 56,000 people from five different states to seek refuge in relief camps. Ongoing heavy rain has caused many rivers in the states of Pahang, Terengganu, and Kelantan to overflow their banks.
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Recall that the weather bureau of Malaysia issued warnings for nonstop rain until Thursday, describing the situation in Terengganu as dangerous. The organization has previously stated that an active La Nina and unfavourable Indian Ocean Dipole concurrences are predicted to prolong the wet weather till early next year.
The northeast monsoon, which produces heavy rain from November to March, has made floods in the Southeast Asian nation an annual occurrence.
According to reports, more than 61,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to last year’s floods, which were the worst to hit the country in decades and resulted in damages of over 6.1 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion).
This story was adapted from Bloomberg.
