Noraini Omar Chong

Bio: Noraini Omar Chong is an academic researcher from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The author has contributed to research in topics: Emergency management & Resilience (network). The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 7 publications receiving 23 citations.

Disaster risk management in malaysia: issues and challenges from the persepctive of agencies

Abstract: Disaster is a major threat that could jeopardise the development of economic, social and physical elements of a nation as well as the well-being of its people. The damage and loss of property and life caused by disasters are overwhelming and least desired by any country. Review of literature as presented in this research indicated that by having a good disaster risk management (DRM) plan and well-coordinated efforts and commitment among related disaster management agencies at all levels and local stakeholders, would potentially lead to disaster risk reductions, increase preparedness and response, and reduction of damage to assets and loss of life. With a long list of agencies and aid bodies that are currently involved in various stages of DRM, putting the idea into reality has proven to be highly challenging particularly on establishing good coordination between agencies and with other stakeholders for a more effective DRM process. This paper identified three major issues and challenges in DRM in Malaysia, particularly from the perspective of agencies. These issues and challenges include (1) disaster management planning imbalanced between top-down and bottom-up approaches, (2) lack of coordination in disaster management cycle, with greater focus only on the disaster emergency response stage and, (3) lack of planning of long-term recovery (post-disaster) process, which resulted in low level community and stakeholders’ resilience to disasters.

Key issues in the management of the humanitarian aid distribution process during and post-disaster in malaysia

Abstract: The humanitarian aid distribution process is a broad activity for helping disaster victims at the right time, with the right needs and at the right place during a disaster. However, there are always issues that could interfere with the humanitarian aid distribution process such as cases of food redundancy, uneven distribution of food supply to disaster victims, food insecurity issues, and volunteers’ redundancy during and post disasters. These issues prove that there are weaknesses in managing the humanitarian aid distribution process within disaster management teams. Generally, these issues should be taken care of when the disaster management team was formed either from government agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Both work as the supporting team in giving aids and helping the disaster victims. Therefore, this research reviews the key issues in the humanitarian aid distribution process in Malaysian disaster management. Key findings show that there is no standard operating procedure (SOP) to explain the roles and responsibilities of NGOs that can be used by Government agencies to coordinate NGO contributions to a supporting team. There are five (5) categories of issues that can have a negative impact on the humanitarian aid distribution process and the disaster victims. The issues are information, communication, collaboration, cooperation, and coordination. All disaster management teams should emphasize these issues as they affect effectiveness in dealing with the humanitarian aid distribution process.

Staying Afloat: Operating Tourism in Disaster-Prone Areas of Mesilou, Sabah

Abstract: Multi-hazards and disasters affect our lives greatly and therefore it become everyone's business. Every time disaster hit a community, it left substantial damages to physical and nonphysical components (particularly economic and social aspects) that shaped our livelihood. From the community-based rural tourism (CBRT) point of view, disaster occurrences often led to significant decrease to destination image and reputation, increase fear of safety, damaging infrastructure and agriculture land. These led to the declining of tourist arrivals which affect income generation and revenue from tourism to the community. Failure to acknowledge these direct and indirect effects might weaken the tourism community's capacity in coping with future disasters. Based on previous studies on CBRT in disaster-prone areas, researchers have uncovered unique cases whereby some rural communities that operates tourism as a vital income are able to raise above adversity and become resilient. In this light, a tourism community in Mesilou Village in Sabah, Malaysia is selected as a case study. This community was badly affected by 6.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Kota Belud in June 2015. At the time, a study of the post-earthquake has been conducted by a group of researchers from UTM in October 2015 and discovered that Mesilou had about 20 homestay operators. For nearly six months after the earthquake, the majority of CBRT operators were affected with high booking cancellation, damages of infrastructure (main road, bridges), disruption of water and electricity supplies and local transportation which hindered tourists from coming to their village. In October 2018, an impact study had been conducted by the same researchers from UTM and found that CBRT in Mesilou not only recovered from the disaster, but remarkably has been booming since then. This is evident from the survey which indicated a growing number of homestays from 20 full time operators (until 2015) to 40 homestays by October 2018. Two general conclusions can be made from the result of data analysis; (1) disaster did not deter the tourists from visiting Mesilou after the earthquake; (2) the CBRT operators pose strong social, economic and environmental capitals to "bounce back" from adversity and rebuilt the community prior to the disasters. This paper will discuss the lessons learned from CBRT operators in Mesilou regarding business recovery and resiliency prior to disaster.

A case study of collaborative disaster management in Malaysia.

Abstract: ............................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... ii Table of

Proposed Framework for the Flood Disaster Management Cycle in Malaysia

Abstract: Floods have been reported to be an important disaster in any country and Malaysia has faced similar disasters in the past, resulting in disturbance in daily community routine issues, financial losses, infrastructure damage including railway tracks, bridges, roads, vehicles, properties, and the worst is the loss of lives. The Sarawak region of Malaysia also witnesses yearly disasters in rainy seasons. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible challenges to manage the flood disaster in Sarawak and to identify the possible solutions to manage floods. In this research, secondary data was used for qualitative assessment. The newspaper articles were collected from the year 2015 until 2019. Targeted interviews were conducted with experts working in flood management disaster schemes to rank and validate the most important factors after content analysis from the past news reports. It is concluded that poor drainage systems, rapid development, heavy rainfall, lack of public awareness, and lack of coordination in executing the disaster management cycle among agencies are the key challenges. Thus, it is recommended that the drainage systems should be upgraded in the case study area. Proper flood management schemes should be planned and flood forecasting should be strengthened. An effective early flood warning system should be designed to activate the plans and a proper public awareness campaign should be initiated to educate and train the local community to deal with such disasters. It is also suggested to assure and maintain proper collaboration among different agencies during such disasters. In the last phase, this paper also proposes a framework for future flood disaster management. The framework will assist the stakeholders to make informed decisions to save human lives and substantial financial losses. The framework can also be used in similar terrain countries.

Understanding the Complexity of Rural Tourism Business: Scholarly Perspective

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze the four core driving forces that shaped the complex picture of rural tourist businesses. These driving forces are marketability, participatory, crisis mitigation and sustainability. This study focused on the scholarly perspective to study and analyze the rural tourism businesses’ literature and its link with these four driving forces. By using the bibliometric analysis technique and VosViewer as a visualization tool, the results revealed that less than 50% of rural tourism literature was concerned with local businesses. Regarding the four driving forces, sustainability was the most linked force with the rural tourism businesses’ scientific production. Contrarily, a relatively small body of the rural tourism businesses’ literature discussed marketability, participatory and crisis mitigation, despite their significant role in the development of these local rural businesses. In addition, the results of this study showed the interest of rural tourism articles in the crisis mitigation pillar, especially recently after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humanitarian Logistics: A Disaster Relief Operations Framework During Pandemic Covid-19 in Achieving Healthy Communities

Abstract: High levels of coordination, cooperation, and collaboration between involved aid providers are needed for efficient logistics processes. In the immediate response phase, coordination, cooperation, and collaboration are firstly required when nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) assess the beneficiaries’ needs by sending field assessment and coordination teams into the disaster area. This research explores the Malaysian scenario of humanitarian logistics as well as the challenges in collaborations between government agencies and NGOs during disaster relief operations in Malaysia to achieve healthy communities during pandemic Covid-19. Thus, this study used past literature to propose a conceptual framework and identified two factors namely, trust and coordination as the key factors in the successful humanitarian logistics framework. In addition, the role of NGOs during a disaster is also important to reduce the burden on government agencies in managing the humanitarian aid distribution process. Collaboration between government and NGOs is pursued in the mitigation and long-term recovery phases, where decisions are taken with caution, and NGOs strategies are adjusted to others without time pressure. The most important driver for successful collaboration is trust. Coordination provisions will increase trust between agencies involved in disaster relief operations. Therefore, building trust between parties involved in certain tasks in disaster relief activities can be enhanced by adding up a contract agreement to ensure both parties will work efficiently and coordinate with the job and minimize the risk that could occur.