Abstract
In December 2021, Klang was hit by the worst flood in history, where 76% of the Klang district was inundated and 82 relief centers were opened to provide shelter to more than 20,000 evacuees. The severe flood was attributed to the extraordinary amount of rainfall in the district and the overflow of Klang River from heavy rainfall at the upstream of the river. Managing the flood amidst COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge because of the need to implement both disaster and COVID-19 specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as social distancing and quarantine. The use of shared facilities, e.g. toilets, common areas and pantries in temporary relief centers predisposed evacuees to an increased risk of disease transmission. In anticipation of such events, the management procedure of COVID-19 cases and close contacts at relief centers were outlined in the preceding weeks. The criteria for selection of suitable relief centers emphasized the need for ample space to allow for adequate distancing, placement of cubicles or tents at more than 2 meters apart, adequate ventilation and lighting, and the provision of isolation rooms for positive cases. For the initial admission process to relief centers, early risk assessment was done via Whatssap, Mysejahtera application or telephone. Subsequently, zoning of evacuees was based on risk stratification and the flow of admission of high risk COVID-19 patients was delineated. The initial period of the flood saw a huge number of evacuees displaced and relocated which caused overcrowding of relief centers. Physical distancing and isolation of COVID-19 cases at relief centers were not practical. Hence, a decision was made to admit all positive cases to hospitals. The pre-emptive measures by the Klang District Health Office managed to coordinate hospital admissions of 80 evacuees with the assistance from the regional Bed Management Unit (BMU). As the result, no COVID-19 clusters were found at all relief centers in the district throughout the flood period. The unprecedented experience from the recent dual disaster not only taught us to be anticipative in the preparation of future disasters, but also to be flexible and quick in decision making. The timely decision which was tailored to the current needs and situations was crucial in preventing large outbreaks or untoward incidents from happening at the relief centers.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-41.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed1909[...]
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-P-41,
title = {Dual disasters: Handling a Major Flood Disaster Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic in Klang},
author = {Mardiana Omar and Faridah Jafri and Siti Hasmah Ilias and Norazilah Jamil and Anussa Krishnan and Gurpreet Kaur Karpal Singh and Faridah Kusnin and Rohana Saad},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-P-41.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/wpforms/1176-1e04940bb5d885bf8711ed19095a89ed/Poster-Disasters-APCPH-22-final-24.7.22-334c6de240c6f96516e44cd461198c81.pdf},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-02},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {In December 2021, Klang was hit by the worst flood in history, where 76% of the Klang district was inundated and 82 relief centers were opened to provide shelter to more than 20,000 evacuees. The severe flood was attributed to the extraordinary amount of rainfall in the district and the overflow of Klang River from heavy rainfall at the upstream of the river. Managing the flood amidst COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge because of the need to implement both disaster and COVID-19 specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as social distancing and quarantine. The use of shared facilities, e.g. toilets, common areas and pantries in temporary relief centers predisposed evacuees to an increased risk of disease transmission. In anticipation of such events, the management procedure of COVID-19 cases and close contacts at relief centers were outlined in the preceding weeks. The criteria for selection of suitable relief centers emphasized the need for ample space to allow for adequate distancing, placement of cubicles or tents at more than 2 meters apart, adequate ventilation and lighting, and the provision of isolation rooms for positive cases. For the initial admission process to relief centers, early risk assessment was done via Whatssap, Mysejahtera application or telephone. Subsequently, zoning of evacuees was based on risk stratification and the flow of admission of high risk COVID-19 patients was delineated. The initial period of the flood saw a huge number of evacuees displaced and relocated which caused overcrowding of relief centers. Physical distancing and isolation of COVID-19 cases at relief centers were not practical. Hence, a decision was made to admit all positive cases to hospitals. The pre-emptive measures by the Klang District Health Office managed to coordinate hospital admissions of 80 evacuees with the assistance from the regional Bed Management Unit (BMU). As the result, no COVID-19 clusters were found at all relief centers in the district throughout the flood period. The unprecedented experience from the recent dual disaster not only taught us to be anticipative in the preparation of future disasters, but also to be flexible and quick in decision making. The timely decision which was tailored to the current needs and situations was crucial in preventing large outbreaks or untoward incidents from happening at the relief centers.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: POSTER PRESENTATION; Organisation: Klang District Health Office; Petaling District Health Office; Selangor State Health Department},
keywords = {Covid-19, disaster, floods, Klang, Pandemic},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}