Huddled masses: 900,000 victims were displaced due to natural disasters between 2017 and 2023.
FLOODS have caused massive losses amounting to RM7.9bil between 2021 and last year, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Dewan Rakyat.
The Deputy Prime Minister said according to the Statistics Department, the highest amount of losses were recorded in 2021, totalling RM6.1bil.
Floods had resulted in losses of RM0.2bil in 2022 as well as last year respectively.
Ahmad Zahid also said that losses due to damaged vehicles amounted to RM1bil in 2021, RM18.8mil in 2022 and RM22.3mil in 2023.
The manufacturing sector recorded cumulative losses of RM0.9bil in 2021, RM8.7mil in 2022 and RM10.3mil in 2023.
Ahmad Zahid was responding to a question by Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) who asked about direct and indirect losses due to natural disasters over the past seven years.
He also said that about 900,000 victims were displaced due to natural disasters between 2017 and 2023, with 2021 recording the highest number of victims.
He said in 2021, the number of victims displaced numbered 208,672, or 23.3% of the total number of victims recorded in the seven-year period.
He noted that Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Pahang and Sabah recorded the highest number of victims placed at temporary relief centres between 2017 and last year.
Kelantan recorded 202,339 victims displaced, followed by Terengganu (180,247), Johor (165,134), Pahang (149,046) and Sabah (50,858).
“Floods are the most common natural disaster.
“It had displaced a majority of natural disaster victims, with 99.5% of them housed at temporary relief centres,” he said in a written reply.
