For several days, severe flooding caused by torrential rains has hit Malaysia. Local authorities report thousands of displaced people and around fifty dead on Sunday.
If the country experiences very intense rain episodes every year during the monsoon season, Malaysia has been caught out this year because of uninterrupted rains since December 17.
Selangor, the richest and most densely populated state in the country, which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur, is one of the regions most affected by the floods. In the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah, the water level has also been reported as dangerous and many roads have been cut.
125,000 people affected
Since the onset of the rains, more than 125,000 people have been displaced. At this point, 117,000 have been able to return home and more than 8,000 people are still accommodated in emergency centers set up by the authorities. Fifty people have died and two are still missing, Malaysia’s Inspector General of Police said on Sunday.
The National Emergency Management Agency said the bad weather would last until Tuesday.
The opposition to the government strongly denounced the management of the crisis, in particular the lack of anticipation and means, calling for the opening of an investigation. Poor coordination between government agencies and a late deployment of the army “have turned a natural disaster into a human disaster, of governance,” said opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob admitted “weaknesses” in the government’s response but promised progress in the future.
