Heads must roll for disastrous response to floods – The Vibes

[superadmin]

THE tragedy of the massive floods that hit the Klang Valley over the weekend is further compounded by the glaring impotency of the administration – both federal and state in their response and proactiveness.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had reckoned that the response for Selangor, which at the time of writing has seen more than 100,000 people displaced and 21 deaths, was slow because the state was unprepared for floods of such magnitude.

Granted that unlike the east coast states of Kelantan, Pahang, and Terengganu, which experience monsoons every year at this time, the enormity of the devastation that hit the Klang Valley was not something that one could have foreseen.

But is that not the work of the likes of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma)? The Meteorological Department? The armed forces? To be prepared for all eventualities?

That Nadma only had its first meeting on Monday – four days after the floods struck, amid reports of a lack of coordination between it and the armed forces, begs the question if red tape and incompetence had contributed to slow rescue operations and the deaths of innocent civilians.

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