Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his administration will provide extra funds for disaster management and rescue efforts following the monsoonal floods that have been more severe than expected this season.
(Bloomberg) — Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his administration will provide extra funds for disaster management and rescue efforts following the monsoonal floods that have been more severe than expected this season.
The government has allocated 400 million ringgit ($90 million) to the National Disaster Management Agency for early preparedness initiatives in flood areas, and more funds will be provided when needed, Anwar, who also doubles up as finance minister, said in parliament Tuesday.
Annual floods in Malaysia have forced more than 71,000 people across five states to seek shelter in relief camps, Bernama reported, with continuous heavy rain raising water levels of several rivers in the hardest-hit states of Kelantan and Terengganu.
Malaysia’s meteorological department issued warnings for continuous rain through Thursday, calling the situation in Terengganu as hazardous. The agency had earlier said that the wet weather is expected to last until early next year due to an active La Nina and negative Indian Ocean Dipole concurrences.
Floods in the Southeast Asian country have become a yearly phenomenon, triggered by the north-east monsoon that brings heavy rain from November to March. Last year’s floods — the nation’s worst in decades — left dozens dead, displaced more than 61,000 people and caused an estimated 6.1 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) in losses.
(Updates number of evacuees in third paragraph)
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