KUALA LUMPUR: Between 2017 and 2023, close to 900,000 victims were displaced due to natural disasters, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said 894,609 victims were placed at 7,279 temporary relief centres throughout this period.
He said 2021 recorded the highest number of displaced victims, with 208,672 victims, or 23.3% of the total from 2017 to 2023.
The Rural and Regional Development Minister said Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Pahang and Sabah recorded the highest number of victims at temporary relief centres during this period.
Kelantan recorded 202,339 displaced victims, followed by Terengganu (180,247), Johor (165,134) and Pahang (149,046), while Sabah had 50,858.
“Floods are the most common natural disaster and displaced the majority of natural disaster victims between 2017 to 2023, with 99.5% of flood victims housed at temporary relief centres,” he said in a written reply on Tuesday (July 16).
Ahmad Zahid said that, according to data from the Statistics Department, some RM7.9 bil in losses due to floods were also recorded from 2021 and 2023.
During this period, the highest loss amount was recorded in 2021 (RM6.1 bil), followed by 2022 (RM1 bil) and 2023 (RM0.8 bil).
Meanwhile, residential losses due to floods amounted to RM1.6 bil in 2021, RM0.2 bil in 2022, and RM0.2 bil in 2023.
Vehicle losses amounted to RM1 bil in 2021, RM18.8 mil in 2022 and RM22.3 mil in 2023.
The manufacturing sector recorded cumulative losses of RM0.9 bil in 2021, RM8.7 mil in 2022 and RM10.3 mil in 2023.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the National Disaster Management Agency also took note of the need to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to study the effectiveness of investments towards preventing and mitigating the impact of natural disasters.
Ahmad Zahid was responding to Zahir Hassan's (PH-Wangsa Maju) question about direct and indirect losses due to natural disasters over the past seven years.
