Malaysia: In remembrance of 2015 Sabah earthquake: Learning from the past for better future
By Dr. Khamarrul Azahari Razak, UTM Geohazards Leader
In remembrance of 2015 Sabah Earthquake: Learning from the past for better future
Earthquake resulted in one fifth of the annual losses due to disasters, and Malaysia is not an exception. The 2015 Sabah earthquake was the most fatal geophysical related disaster ever recorded in Malaysia with high economic losses and triggered many cascading geohazards in the vicinity of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sabah.
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Reducing disaster risk requires a new paradigm to address the multiple and interrelated processes of vulnerability and risk, as well as strengthen resilience through stronger engagement across sectors, and communities.
UTM Geohazard has built the momentum towards achieving this effort. Together with many strategic partners, we co-implement evidence-based actions and advocacy campaigns at the local level in developing partnerships and coalitions for resilience.
So far, we had participated in the UNISDR International Day for Risk Reduction in October 2015, 2016, and 2018 by organizing high impact DRR-based community programs.
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The Department of Mineral and Geoscience (JMG) Malaysia is presently implementing the Active Fault Mapping and Earthquake Risk project covering an area of 10,000 km2 including Ranau and Lahad Datu in Sabah for the period from 2016 until 2020.
Through the project JMG Malaysia has published the Seismic Hazard Map which shows probabilistically affected zones by hazards and impacts based on earthquake intensity.
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UTM and its strategic partners put forth advance mapping, monitoring, modelling, mitigation, and risk reduction of debris flow, one of hyper-concentrated flows that remained as the most fatal disaster with highest recorded human losses in Malaysia.
“Land-use change and its impact as results of geohazards is a crucial aspect for promoting risk-informed development in a tourist-demanding region”, said Nur Afiqah Mohd Kamal, a postgraduate student at UTM Geohazard, who is studying the pre- and post-impact of the earthquake.
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