Some of the impacts of floods are threat to lives, disruption of social and economic activities and destruction of property, causing distress and recovery can be costly both to individuals and the Government, and may deter new investments in the flood-prone area.
Most communities which are affected by floods in Malaysia want the flood problems to be solved, and efforts by the government have been successful at times. However the government had found that flood mitigation is not only through structural projects but non-structural as well.
GWP Malaysia is assisting the government in carrying out more consultation and dialogues between the government and the community, by developing a pilot project with support of Global Water Partnership Southeast Asia and MyWP's various partners. The community program was held on 25 November 2012.
Part of the program covered Integrated Flood Management (IFM), an integrated approach for an effective and efficient flood mitigation management and a new approach to flood management which derives its principles essentially from the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) which is also the concept of GWP.
The participants who attended became aware of the many organizations functions, for the National Security Council, and the kind of relief they can provide. Most importantly, the participants who were mainly leaders of the community (village representatives or village head) found out their roles before, during and after a flood event. They were also made aware of the restrictions faced by government departments in flood mitigation. Quite a number found out there is a need to change their attitude and lifestyle. The participants will also share with their community when they return to their villages.
Trainers/resource persons shared their experience as well as their organizations' roles. GWP provided fund and resource material which is available in their website and printed material was very important for community who may not have access to the internet.
Link to the IFM community program in the MyWP website;
http://www.mywp.org.my/ifm-community-program/