Reflection 3: Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action

 Name: Fatin Natrah binti Mazelan

Matric Number: 2110182

Hai Assalamualaikum. In today's post, I'm gonna write about climate action. 

    One of the most devastating natural calamities is flooding. It occurs when an excessive amount of water collects in a certain location. It frequently happens when there is a lot of rain.

    I'm pretty sure everyone is aware with the lastest flood occurring in Selangor, Kelantan, and the worse, Pahang. We are used with water rise in Kelantan, moreover since the 2004 tragedic. However, we never heard of severe flooding before in Selangor and Pahang. Here are some pictures attached regarding the flood in Disember 2021. 

*The first 2 pictures is credited to the owner, Mr Fazwan Nordin, on Instagram: @fazwannordin

    The question is, why is it happening now and with severe condition?

    Prof Dr Ahmad Ismail, President of the Malaysian Nature Lovers Association (MNS), said the catastrophic floods in the Klang Valley were plainly caused by a lack of meticulous planning in development projects. It was agreed by Ir Ts Dr Rumaizah Mohd Nordin, a lecturer in UiTM. He said the unplanned development caused the drainage system to not be designed properly."If done in a planned manner, rainfall distribution data, flood levels and various hydrological information will be taken into account to design a suitable drainage system to avoid the risk of major floods." Hence, in order to tackle this, a detailed study needs to be done to take into account information from all relevant parties to ensure efficient flood management," he said.

      Apart from that, the flood also happens due to continuous rain and climate change. Hence, development in the future should really consider this deeply. 

    The solutions that can help avoid flood is green roofs rooftop gardens. Green roofs (roofs covered in vegetation) absorb rainfall and help to prevent flooding by their very nature. They've gained a lot of traction in Europe. The advantages in terms of water are straightforward: it's a stormwater management tool for the building owner; it minimises stormwater runoff for the community; and it prevents combined sewer overflow, neutralises acid rain, and removes nitrogen pollution from rainwater for the environment. 

    Next, cities are beginning to rebuild their underground pipe and drainage systems – by separating rainwater from the sewer system – to improve water management and preserve the sewer system from harm. The separation allows the wastewater treatment facility to operate normally without being overwhelmed by enormous amounts of stormwater. Hence, we can start initiating this method in Malaysia to avoid more flood tragedy. 

Meanwhile at certain low areas, flood is unavoidable. Therefore, is it suggested that the house owner would raise their sockets higher, and use waterproof material for the paint or wallpaper. At least it can minimize the losses when flood happens. Then, government should improve flood warning mechanism in order to minimize stuff losses and to avoid people's deaths. In Europe, projects such as this flood early warning system and dam monitoring are underway to reform how natural disasters, such as flooding, are appropriately assessed and when (and how often) alerts should be issued. Global forecasting systems and early warning mechanisms are being fine-tuned to "create an operational tool for decision makers, including national and regional water authorities, water resource managers, hydropower companies, civil protection and first responders, and international humanitarian aid organisations."

Therefore, I really hope that we can be prepared to avoid flood and also to face flood in the unavoidable area. I pray that Allah will grant reward to all the people who got affected in the recent flood. That's all from me and I hope everyone can benefit something from this post.