M. Zainora Asmawi

The Impacts of Tsunami on the Well-Being of the Affected Community in Kuala Muda, Kedah, Malaysia

The tsunami of 26 December 2004 was one of the most devastating tragedy ever occurred to men in the history of human civilization. Approximately 250,000 lives perished, millions injured and suffered, while the destruction of property loss of opportunities cannot be accurately estimated. The impact of the tsunami on environmental destruction shows that damage was inflicted on natural resources such as coral reefs, mangroves, sand dunes and other coastal ecosystem that acted as wave defense barriers. Moreover, inlands, wetlands and agricultural land were salinated and natural resources for livelihood and for source of income were badly affected, especially for coastal communities who were involve in fisheries. The situation worsened as basic facilities were also destroyed. As such, this research focuses on assessing and identifying on how the impacts of the tsunami on the infrastructure and environmental resources affected the community well-being inKuala Muda, Kedah, Malaysia. This study focuses on the impacts of tsunami on the affected community well-being in the coastal zone on the basis of available primary and secondary sources. Primary sources included questionnaires, interviews and observations while the secondary resources included books,government and international reports, scientific journals, maps and articles that highlighted tsunami related issues. The study tries to seek for both qualitative and quantitative impacts and also tries to find out some solutions that would help to minimize the impact of the tsunami on the community well-being. The information gained from this study can be used to help the community as well as the agencies involve in order to minimize the impacts of the tsunami on the community and develop a more effective mitigation measures for other environmental disasters such as tsunami. Besides, the research may help to create awareness on the community to be prepared in facing disastrous situation such as the tsunami. Through community preparedness, the impact can be minimized and reduced. As for the authority, this research may be of great assistance by allowing them to make better decision.

GIS APPLICATION IN COASTAL MANAGEMENT: THE PERSPECTIVES OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN SELANGOR

The coastal area is highly considered as one of the most complex areas to be handled by the traditional planning system. In managing coastal areas, there must be integrated coastal management between various related agencies, technically and physically. The management of the coastal area depends on the coastal managers ability to recognize and comprehend the complexity of natural coastal processes. Thus, this paper addresses how GIS tool is embedded in the coastal management system from the perspectives of government agencies in Selangor. The objectives of this research are: to identify the present integration between coastal management and GIS at government agencies in Selangor coastal districts; and to study the application of GIS and related spatial information technologies to local government officials. Data were gathered through survey. The findings show positive relationship between coastal management and GIS in Selangor. Government agencies indeed has actively been using GIS as part of the management tool of the coastal area in Selangor This may eventually lead to GIS application being recognised as a significant tool to be used in coastal management. Keyword: coastal management, government agencies, GIS implementation Date Received: 31 May 2017 Date of Acceptance: 21 October 2017 Tuminah Paiman, & M. Zainora Asmawi GIS Application in Coastal Management: The Perspectives of Government Agencies in Selangor

Temporal geospatial shorelines changes analysis in Klang Coastal Area

The coastal area of Klang at the eastern of Malaysia contains different types of land covers that are surrounded by the urban and mangroves areas. These areas are significant for environmental biodiversity. This article focuses on the erosion along the Kapar to Jeram coastal areas. The purpose of this study is to monitor the 41 years of shoreline changes using satellite imageries from 1974 to 2015 (Landsat TM and ETM+). The coastline is delineated by using the histogram slicing technique. One hundred transects were sampled at 200 meter intervals along the shoreline. The transects were obtained by calculating the rate of change of mangrove shorelines and distance. Finding shows that an average for the shoreline rate of change was 5 m/year . The results of this study will be translated to propose a policy for environmental mitigation. The outcome of this study will introduce the proposed environmental mitigation for future planning in the specific sectors of coastline.

Mangroves degradation: A local perspective on its awareness

Mangroves in Malaysia reside on the coastlines, and the largest areas of mangrove are in the Northern Sabah. Over the past decades, mangrove species have been reported to be disappearing from the globe. It is due to several natural processes that have been inserted to fill the needs of the increased population. These include illegal logging, agriculture activities and urbanisation. In this regards, awareness of the local residents about the problem of mangrove depletion is important to inhibit the problem to prolong further.Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the degree of awareness of local residents on the importance of mangroves in managing environmental quality. Consequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 103 respondents to examine their awareness on the subject of mangrove degradation.The respondents were selected randomly among local residents of Kuala Selangor district.It is found that only twenty percent of the total number of respondents are totallyaware of the issue and acted upon it; either taking part in the endeavours made by the government as well as those with the non-governmental bodies or practicing mangroves replanting at their backyard. Keyword: Mangroves; Local Residents; Degradation; Awareness INTRODUCTION Mangroves has been long recognized as one of an efficient tool in managing the environmental quality. Its contribution is widely accepted in the sectors linked to social, economic and physical dimensions. It is a devastating situation where the natural environment is sacrificed in meeting the demands of 6.0 billion of people on the planet (Valeila et al., 2009). Permanent Reserve Forest, cutting through the mangrove ecosystem is an asset to the state and contributed to the nations’ economy, biodiversity, and the environment. Granting to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1980, mangrove forests are recorded to be 674,000 ha in Malaysia (FAO, 2007). Still, interpretations are changing in the succeeding ten years with a decreasing of 0.5 percent, with only 642,000 ha in 1990 (FAO, 2007). Eventually, the record of 2005, Malaysia has only 565,000 ha of mangrove woods, with decreasing 1.62 percent (FAO, 2007). Selangor has the highest total loss of mangrove area for the past two decades, from 1990-2010 (Refer table 1). Furthermore, according to Kamariah et al., (2014), compared to the world’s land-based forests, destruction of the mangrove ecosystem went four times faster Mazni Adibah Abd Rahman & M.Zainora Asmawi Mangroves Degradation: A Local Perspective on its Awareness

The Perception of Community on Coastal Erosion Issue in Selangor, Malaysia

Malaysia is a maritime nation blessed with invaluable coastlines. Hence it is important to preserve its precious coastal areas in a sustainable manner. However, coastal areas are continuously facing tremendous development pressures both from natural and anthropogenic factors. These include tsunami event, rapid urbanization process, aquaculture sector, oil and others. Consequently these situations create problems to coastal areas. For instance, the issues of erosion nand loss of habitats are significant in many maritime nations. Thus, this research was initiated by the global phenomenon on coastal areas, particularly erosion problem. The research addresses the issue of coastal erosion as one of the key coastal problems in Selangor. The coastlines of Selangor were selected as it experienced erosion problem relatively significant due to continuous development growth. The objectives of the research were: to comprehend the perception of the coastal community in relation to the issue of coastal erosion in Selangor; to analyze the causal factors contributing to coastal erosion in Selangor;and to analyze the severity of coastal erosion issues in Selangor. Research methods applied was mainly by conducting questionnaire survey to a total of 377 coastal residents and site-observation. This analysis demonstrates that Selangor is currently experiencing severe erosion problems at some stretches of its coastlines, which were considered as Rank 1 (extremely dangerous). These areas involved 33 km of coastal areas. Among the areas are Bagan Beting, Sungai Besar, Bagan Sekinchan, Jeram and Sungai Sembilang. Results from questionnaire survey also indicated that coastal erosion was significant in Selangor with 77% of respondents agreed to that statement. In addition, 75% of them felt that their coastlines were considered as seriously affected’. Overall, this research managed to achieve its outlined objectives.

The Town Planners’ Perspective: Development Plan Towards Sustainable Coastal Management in Malaysia

This study investigates whether the town planning system can and should make a substantial contribution to coastal management by conducting primary research that focuses on the application of theory on practice. Perspectives of Malaysian town planners were viewed by carrying out questionnaire survey for data collection. Coastal management requires other tools in delivering its wide spectrum of objectives and strategies to make it more sustainable. In this regards, development plan system in the town planning practice is recognised as one of the tools to assist coastal management. This paper examines the limited consideration given to the contribution of development plan to coastal management. Though it is evident that development plan has some limitation, town planners are still highly regarded development plan as a useful mechanism to ensure that coastal management can achieve its objectives and strategies in the land-side of development.