Experts say about the causes of Bandang floods in Malaysia

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Heavy rains causing flooding in some areas Malaysia and killed at least 10 people over the weekend is called the impact of climate change.

The districts affected by the floods in Malaysia include Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Pahang, Melaka and Terengganu.

Environmentalist Renald Siew said the flooding that hit several states was a clear example of unpredictable weather resulting from high carbon emissions.

“When we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, what tends to happen is to create a global (atmospheric) leak effect,” Siew said Channel News Asia, Tuesday (21/12).

The greenhouse gases then capture the heat and under warmer conditions, the atmosphere is able to hold more vapor and moisture.

“When those effects build up, the long-term impact of this is sudden rain in certain areas, and that’s what you’ve seen in the flooding in Malaysia the last few days,” Siew said.

He also said northeastern manson winds typically impact the east coast of the peninsula. However, this year’s floods also hit areas in the middle of the peninsula.

“So it is increasingly difficult for climatologists to predict the weather with a higher degree of accuracy due to the phenomenon of weather changes,” he said.

The Malaysian government, he continued, had stated that this flood would occur once in a hundred years. But in fact, over the years people have seen the many effects of extreme weather that occurred in China, Germany, and New York.

Siew said Malaysia should use this incident as motivation to focus on reducing emissions, stopping deforestation and building dialogue with communities.

“The government must determine climate change actions that will provide an integrated approach, from the policy level to our disaster response. It is also a way to integrate the roles of the community and NGOs,” he said.

Malaysian floods and their relation to typhoon Rai, read on next page…