LETTER | Crisis management not just about rushing to respond

LETTER | Many would have thought that our management of the Covid-19 health crisis would have taught us invaluable lessons in crisis preparedness. But these three days of incessant downpour only goes to reveal how we fare in the face of yet another crisis.

The rain came, the floods started. Then we hear from the Meteorological Department which areas are under red alert, or orange and yellow.

Our response guardians swung into action to move stranded citizens to safer relief centres.

But let us ask some honest, critical questions.

Did the incessant rain come suddenly out of nowhere and caught everyone including the authorities by surprise?

Did the dedicated ministries and departments not read global and satellite images and connect with the worldwide and regional realms of science and weather bodies to establish potential eventualities and the accompanying damage that could head our way?

Why do we always respond to every crisis situation in a knee-jerk fashion? Do we not learn that responding to a crisis situation is not how well you rush to a scene of danger but also how prepared you were in averting any collateral damage or even minimising it?

Wonder what factories that depend on their workers would have to do as they face having their factory hands stranded because of floods and roads made inaccessible?

Wonder what farmers – like in Cameron Highlands, for example, would be faced with as the incessant rain keeps pouring endlessly over these past three days? Were they alerted well ahead before the cyclone-driven rains arrived so that they could roll out emergency attendance to their crops?

Let us not forget our fisherfolk. Did they receive adequate and advance warnings and were there adequate measures put on standby to make sure their catch gets to the market on a routine basis?

How about all the poultry breeders? Were they also not affected by the rain? Or would we leave the marketplace to make up for the breakdown in poultry breeding and supply with a sudden hike in the price of chicken and then just blame it all on the weather?

It also looks like all the politicians are more interested in the outcome of the Sarawak election than walking through the affected spots nationwide to reach out and ensure help gets through where it is most needed. Only PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was seen wading through water in Port Dickson.

What is equally incomprehensible is even the prime minister is busy preaching about unity and Keluarga Malaysia halfway through the weather crisis when he could have addressed all citizens on what is to be expected and what measures are in place by his ministries that only recently got passed off with a "90 percent efficient performance" in 100 days.

Do we ever realise the national loss in terms of spoilt produce, farm products and disrupted productivity let alone citizens who are affected directly by the floods and the ensuing food chain supply disruption – all because we are flip-flopping when it comes to crisis preparedness?

We certainly cannot go on like this patting ourselves on the back for responding to a crisis. We need to learn to give importance to crisis preparedness that must include our ability to avert or at the least minimise the fallouts of a crisis. We need good warning systems in place that can enable people to swing into a preparedness mode and ensure that life is disrupted to its minimum.

What we are witnessing throughout these three days of incessant downpours is that netizens are connecting with each other and sharing video clips and photos of people caught unaware in the midst of raging roads of water and crushing hills. Why are government notices only coming after local communities have all known about the problems at hand?

We cannot go on and on calling for investigations, reviews and studies after the rains have left us. Perhaps heads must roll now for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob if his government means business unless if it is again a "business as usual" subscription.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.