INGENIEUR
suffering degradation or loss of function. Most
of the approaches generally focus on the ability
to prevent or resist floods.
●●
Adaptive Capacity (Francis & Bekera, 2014)
Even though prevention and protection
measures might have been adapted, there is
no certainty that the approach adapted will
ameliorate the impact of future climate change.
In the event of unexpected occurrence of flood,
adaptive capacity will be used especially if
absorptive capacity has been exceeded. The
adaptive capacity will react to anticipated
disruptive events, recognize unanticipated
events, reorganize after occurrence of an
adverse events and general preparedness for
adverse events.
Preparedness (Redundancy)
Principally, preparedness approach should
be handled by organisations especially those
managing critical facilities and disaster-related
functions. Important issues regarding flood
preparedness are:
●●
Preparedness is a central foundation of
disaster/ emergency management;
●●
Preparedness is not static but a dynamic and
continuous process whereby managers and
victims learn;
●●
Preparedness is an educational activity to
increase awareness and understanding;
●●
Preparedness is not just about drills but is
based on knowledge (which is evolving all the
time); and
●●
Preparedness evokes appropriate actions
(from both disaster managers and victims).
Emergency Response (Resourcefulness)
When vulnerable areas become worse, an effective
emergency response plan is vital. An emergency
response plan is developed to establish appropriate
procedures for responding to a flood emergency that
could have a significant impact on a community. An
immediate response focused on search, rescue and
evacuations is needed at the first stage. Therefore,
close co-operation and understanding between
various parties involved in rescuing victims need
to be effective. Support on critical lifelines that
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affect community resilience are important. Critical
lifelines such as water, food, power, communication,
temporary shelter, and other critical facilities are
important to the communities.
Recovery/ Restorative Capacity/
Transformative (Rapidity) (Francis & Bekera,
2014)
Restorative capacity of a resilient system is often
characterized by rapidity of return to normal
or improved operations and system reliability.
Resilience in this sense is determined by the
capacity to withstand, adapt to and recover from
the impact of flood so that the community can
return to level of pre disaster function (or other
acceptable levels) as soon as possible. Mitigating
risk including both social and economic impacts
should be addressed. It is also important to meet
priorities and achieve goals in a timely manner
in order to contain losses and avoid future
disruption. Therefore, transformative capacity will
serve as a safeguard for making the vulnerable
areas become more resilient in the future.
The integration of each perspective in
developing the new strategy is summarized in
Table 5. The Resilience concept is developed
based on absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity
and recovery/restorative capacity. Factors that
affect resilience are robustness, resourcefulness,
redundancy, rapidity. These factors will ensure the
effectiveness of each resilience strategy. In short,
the strategic framework towards flood resilience is
composed of multiple dimensions.
Initiative for Resilience towards flood in
Malaysia
The Malaysian Government has and will continue
to take action, to provide the