Abstract
Excessive rain pattern has been the major cause contributing to flooding of low land due to excess water release from affected dams. This deliberate measure has to be taken to prevent the catastrophic effect of a dam break scenario. Therefore, this kind of disaster is considered as a local phenomenon. The local communities are the vulnerable population to face the immediate impact of such disaster. Needless to mention that they are also first emergency responders which is crucial for saving lives. It is therefore imperative for the involved stakeholders to improve local communities’ resilience to dam related disasters. This resonates well with the Hyogo Framework for Action, which identify local communities as integral cornerstone for saving lives and livelihoods. In the case of communities living near main hydropower dams owned by Tenaga Nasional Berhad, an initiative known as Integrated Community Based Disaster Management (ICBDM) has been launched in May 2015. This initiative adopts the concept of 3Es; embrace, educate and empower. The priority is to ensure the vulnerable communities embrace the reality, being educated to face any upcoming situation as well as being empowered to take charge of immediate live saving efforts in the future. The initiative involves five key scopes encompassing technical and non-technical areas and promotes the strategic partnerships between dam owner, authority and the community. It is anticipated that this initiative will build the resilience of communities to dam related disaster.
Highlights
Disaster risk reduction is one of the important aspects that need to be seriously concerned by everyone
Taking into the action through this disaster, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) took an initiative known as Integrated Community Based Disaster Management (ICBDM) for their hydroelectric dam scheme
The recent incident at Sultan Abu Bakar (SAB) dam has proven that loss of life could be contributed by dam associated flash floods which are obviously not rare compared to dam failure flooding
Summary
Disaster risk reduction is one of the important aspects that need to be seriously concerned by everyone. With the increasing number of disaster happened around the world, exposing the community of the affected area to the high risk and vulnerabilities [1]. Post disaster reconstruction and rehabilition is a complex issue with several dimensions [2]. Government, nongovernment, stakeholders and international organization have their own outlines in disaster recovery program and the unity must be establish among them as well as the community. In order to minimize the damage cause by the disaster, various effort were taken care. Participation from the community is an important aspects to ensure that the effort in disaster management sustainability will last longer. Without the sustainability disaster management will not preserve. The most common elements of community involvements are partnership, participation, empowerment and ownership by the local people [3]
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