Kelantan Flood 2014: Reflections from Relief Aid Mission to Kampung Kemubu, Kelantan

Abstract

Almost every year Kelantan is experiencing flood phenomenon, and flooding is seen as a common natural disaster in the area. December 2014 heavy rains fell caused massive flooding in many areas in Kelantan leading to destruction of livelihood of local communities. This paper presents researchers’ experiences on the site of flood area in Kampung Kemubu, Kelantan, Malaysia in January 2015 while acting as volunteers working in a relief aid mission for the flood disaster. The paper utilized a qualitative design to meet the objective. Qualitative data was gathered through field observations on the affected areas in terms of live and livelihoods aspects of local settlement. Physical aspects such as houses, roads, schools, community halls, and other public facilities in the community are lost. Nearly 90 percent of the houses in the area were destroyed. The economic loses from the flood are unexpected and typically spread beyond the flooded area and may last longer than the flood itself. In terms of psychosocial consequences, adults and older persons vary in terms of their impacts and acceptance of disaster. For the ones who are more religious are seem to be less vulnerable than the ones who are less religious. Villagers who are less religious are likely to manipulate the situation to get sympathy from the relief aid mission. Thus, management, particularly coordination of all volunteers working in relief aid mission for floods disasters is extremely important.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s2p340