Disaster preparedness in Malaysia: An exploratory study

Malaysians are increasingly finding themselves exposed to disasters especially land slides and flood. However, concern can be raised about citizen’s preparedness of disasters, and the extent to which they are consequently prepared, protected and equipped to deal with emergencies that they may encounter. This paper discusses the level of disaster preparedness among Malaysians from a survey of 346 citizens to assess their perceptions of disaster issues, and their attitudes towards increasing the disaster preparedness. The findings reveal that although there is a high degree of confidence at surface level, with respondents claiming to be aware of the disaster issues and the ability to utilize many of the relevant safety methods, a deeper assessment suggests that there are several areas in which desirable knowledge and understanding is lacking. The study also presents some recommendations for Malaysians and the Malaysian government to improve the level of disaster preparedness. The study is timely to the public especially to the local community to preempt, deal with and, ultimately, survive a disaster.