Due to the rapid urbanisation as well as climate change happening around the world, we are now becoming more at risk and easily affected by natural disasters such as flooding. In Malaysia alone, news on communities affected by floods can be heard, seen and read almost every quarter of the year, a costly event every time it hits us, confirming the worsening severity, frequency and impact of this particular natural calamity in our country.

Flooding causes disruption of services, damage to existing infrastructures, wreaking havocon our daily routines and can easily spread communicable diseases. One of the ways for us to minimise the risks is by getting ourselves prepared - it is not as complicated as it seems and only requires some form of commitment to take the simple steps necessary to ensure that the resources are available and ready when you need them.

Tips for personal preparedness measures during flood season:

1. To prepare waterproof containers for valuables and important documents;
2. To prepare sandbags, if needed, as barriers to prevent from water flowing into your homes; placing sandbags into the
toilet bowl and other drain holes in the bathroom to prevent sewage or waste from flowing into your house;
3. During the flood:
a) be ready to evacuate to higher ground
b) secure your house before leaving and secure that furniture and electrical appliances are raised to a higher level, empty the refrigerator adn leave its door open to avoid damage or loss as they float about
c) disconnect electrical appliances and gas
d) take care of personal hygiene by ensuring that drinking water is boiled, hands are washed frequently with soap,etc
e) avoid flood water - don't play in it as it may be contaminated by oil or raw sewage, or it is electrically charged from fallen power lines. Debris carried by flood  can also cause injuries
f) if you must wade in flood water, walk where the water is not moving, wear solid shoes and use a walking stick to check water depth and if it is safe to wade through
g) avoid drains and water over knee deep
h) do not strive into flooded areas - if your car gets stuck in the flood, leave the car and move to higher ground, safely. Flooded roads can also weaken or collapse
i) stay out of buildings surrounded by flood. If you must enter, be extra cautious with dangerous animals such as snakes or spiders
j) stay away from fallen power lines
k) do not use gas or electrical appliances that have been submerged in flood water


The overall view of disaster preparedness includes these simple tips:

K: Know the risks - we must identify if we are at risk of natural disasters such as floods. We can identify the risks by identifying the hazards around our home and surrounding areas. We must then work out which hazard point that poses the greatest threat, causes the biggest disruption and is more likely to occur.

K: Know the warning signs - by understanding how the hazard points work, we will know when the danger level is increasing. Be alert to the changes in the environment as those changes could signal something bigger along the way.

P: Prepare an evacuation plan - the purpose of the evacuation plan is for you to get to safer grounds with minimum confusion. It involves ensuring that you and members of your household know what to do and where to go should you need to evacuate immediately. This also involves planning a meeting point and having the emergency telephone numbers displayed.
P: Prepare a grab bag - prepare the essential items for you and members of your family which will be taken with you when you need to evacuate

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About MERCY Malaysia

MERCY Malaysia is a non‐profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health-related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and non-crisis situations. MERCY Malaysia recognises the value of working with partners and volunteers as well as providing opportunities for individuals to serve with professionalism. We uphold the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and hold ourselves accountable to our donors and beneficiaries. As a non‐profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue our services to provide humanitarian assistance to our beneficiaries.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.mercy.org.my or http://www.facebook.com/MERCYMALAYSIA.

Important Note to Media: Usage of Wordmark MERCY Malaysia

In order to avoid confusion with other organisation(s) that uses “Mercy” as the organisation’s name or part of the organisation’s name, please take note that in addressing the name of our organisation, the wordmark for MERCY Malaysia is with capitalised “MERCY”, followed by the word “Malaysia”. When describing the organisation, the term “MERCY Malaysia” must always be used in full, and should not be partially referred to as “MERCY”, or “Mercy”. Thank you for your cooperation.