{"id":11465,"date":"2015-01-06T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=11465"},"modified":"2015-01-06T15:09:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T07:09:23","slug":"how-much-longer-until-an-emergency-is-declared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/how-much-longer-until-an-emergency-is-declared\/","title":{"rendered":"How much longer until an emergency is declared ?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aerial<\/a>

Aerial view of Kuala Krai, Kelantan (pic from the Malay Mail Online)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ralvin Manikam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is the government’s hesitance in declaring a state of emergency merely an act of denial?<\/p>\n

As the east coast states grapple with rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of the nation’s worst floods in 33\u00a0years, the pressure mounts to declare a state of emergency which would hasten the recovery process.<\/p>\n

But what stays the hand of the government in making the tough decision to place flood relief work as its top priority?<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, the National Security Council admitted that there was a complete collapse in response to the devastating floods that hit five East Coast states in Peninsular Malaysia. As a result, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Terrengganu, and Kelantan, have suffered damages of almost RM1 billion\u00a0and more than 230,000 victims displaced. The death toll is now at 21.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the \u201cworst floods ever in Kelantan\u201d by the NSC, the\u00a0aftermath of the floods has led to other problems like looting and disease — the latest target being\u00a0Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself.<\/p>\n

According to reports, the Prime Minister was infected by the E-Coli bacteria after visits to flood hit areas. E Coli can cause diarrhoea, and rarely,\u00a0kidney failure and death. He would now be monitoring the flood situation from home, according to\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

Not as lucky however are the other 1220 people who have contracted infections in the wake of the flood, and just in Pahang alone, which is not as badly affected by the floods as Kelantan. They do not possess the luxury of resting at their homes, since it is their homes which have been devastated by the floods.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may, the government has refused to declare a state of emergency to combat further fears of social unrest and the spread of disease.<\/p>\n

Research for Social Advancement (Refsa)\u00a0senior fellow Lam Choong Wah believes that the federal government\u2019s stubbornness in this matter is to \u201csave face\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is embarrassed to admit its failure to prepare for the floods, which pays us a visit every single year,\u201d he told The Rocket <\/em>briefly.<\/p>\n

\"flood<\/a>

The floods in Pahang (Pic from The Malaysian Insider)<\/p><\/div>\n

Declaring a state of emergency<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, what does a state of emergency really mean?<\/p>\n

A country usually declares a state of emergency in the event of war, natural disaster or social unrest, so that government forces can be mobilised where existing response systems have failed.<\/p>\n

A state of emergency would surrender\u00a0full control of\u00a0the state to the Prime Minister and the government — and by extension its machinery\u00a0— to expedite cleaning, relocating of victims, and restoring power and water in the affected states.<\/p>\n

Declaring an emergency can only be done by the Agong, who would\u00a0act on this matter on\u00a0the advice of the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

One of the most crucial reasons to declare a state of emergency is that it would\u00a0allow the federal government to mobilise aid and forces, without breaching constitutional limits meant to prevent the government from interfering with state issues that come under state jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

This means that the government would be able to mobilise\u00a0its military, reserve troops, and its fire rescue department to clean up the flood-hit areas, move people into shelters, and solve the problems of power outages and clean water supply much quicker then\u00a0without government presence; and they can do so without undergoing all sorts of bureaucratic red-tape that often ensnare\u00a0the State-Federal relationship.<\/p>\n

Failure to\u00a0declare an emergency slows down relief efforts, something which Kelantan state authorities have said would happen. The state, at the\u00a0current pace of clean-up efforts, would only fully recover only after six months at best. However, opposition leaders, like Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang say that this is too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether for Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak or any state for that matter, the period for the full recovery from the devastation of the floods catastrophe should be cut down from – at least six months – to two months, and this is why a state of emergency for the flood-stricken states should declared, to deal firstly with the floods disaster management, mitigation and relief during the floods catastrophe, and secondly, the post-flood challenges and dangers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To the DAP, the federal government needs to urgently step in and solve the crisis like other nations have done when faced with floods.<\/p>\n

In the 2013 Alberta floods in Canada for instance, the government had issued a state of emergency in the nation’s worst floods that left 100,000 people displaced and four dead.<\/p>\n

DAP leaders urge for action<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the NSC saying that their response system had indeed failed, opposition leaders such as Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang, Penang chief minister\u00a0Lim Guan Eng, and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua have urged the government to declare a state of emergency. Najib\u2019s response, however, is that the declaration would absolve insurance companies from compensating for damages.<\/p>\n

Baffled by the answer, Pua had said that insurance companies are not liable to pay for damages in the event of a natural disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cVehicles damaged by the massive flood would not be indemnified anyway (unless additional flood cover was purchased), regardless of whether a\u00a0state of emergency is declared!” Pua said.<\/p>\n

Apart from Pua\u2019s rebuttal, the\u00a0General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) had also given their assurance that insurance firms would cover flood claims if natural disasters are included in their general insurance coverage.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the government would only be obliged to declare an emergency if there were total power and water outages. Muhyiddin, like his superior was slammed for being ignorant of the situation in Kelantan, where power and water supply had already been non – existent for quite some time.<\/p>\n

From the responses by Najib and Muhyiddin, it does seem like the federal government is\u00a0willing to resort to all kinds of excuses to avoid a state of emergency; a move that the DAP thinks is necessary\u00a0to hasten rebuilding the lives of the flood victims.<\/p>\n

\"flood<\/a>

A man lights a cigarette in flood affected Kota Baru, Kelantan (pic from the Malaysian Insider)<\/p><\/div>\n

Urgent need for Najib\u00a0to step in<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even if the total breakdown of the NSC\u2019s response efforts and the Kelantan State government\u2019s failure to prepare for the disaster are not sound enough factors for a state of emergency, the spread of disease and social unrest should make the government change its mind.<\/p>\n

DAP MPs Anthony Loke (Seremban) and Liew Chin Tong (Kluang) had previously\u00a0raised concerns\u00a0of looting and the spread of disease as some of the potential issues that could spiral out of proportion if the government remains unmoved.<\/p>\n

Urging the government to declare a state of emergency in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, they\u00a0said that the coastal floods might facilitate a potential outbreak of disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarbage is mostly not collected and flooded areas have not yet been cleaned. The stench of dead animals is commonplace,\u201d they said, describing the scenes they witnessed in Kelantan.<\/p>\n

Liew and Loke had also said that the government needed to step in, to ensure food and essential items are distributed to all in an orderly manner.<\/p>\n

Without functioning shops or stalls, they said that social unrest cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\n

Lim had cited incidences of flooding along Gaza Strip and Central Java, West Java and Aceh, Indonesia where the government did not have to wait for\u201chundreds of thousands of flood victims before an emergency was declared\u201d.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippines, when faced with\u00a0Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 had declared a state of emergency, enabling the mobilisation of aid. The government also placed police officers and the military in the some areas before the storm, while classes were cancelled and people who lived in areas prone to landslide were ordered to evacuate. Although over six thousand had died following the storm, Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme said that many more lives could have been lost if the government were not as quick and effective when dealing with the crisis.<\/p>\n

Despite repeated calls for Najib to take charge of our nations crisis, it might take\u00a0longer before the federal government decides to act promptly – even if lives are at stake. -The Rocket<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ralvin Manikam Is the government’s hesitance in declaring a state of emergency merely an act of denial? As the east coast states grapple with rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of the nation’s worst floods in 33\u00a0years, the pressure mounts to declare a state of emergency which would hasten the recovery process. But what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11465"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11496,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions\/11496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}