Media Information, Flood Images, and Perceptions in Times of Flood

Abstract

Disasters in Malaysia are managed using a framework developed through Directive 20 by the National Security Council. This framework is widely used in managing floods on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. However, the prolonged rains that occurred on 17 December 2021 tested the capabilities of the existing framework: the rains caused floods in urban areas, which is unusual. This study was conducted to investigate the flood situation using data from the media, observations of the affected area, and people’s perceptions to determine their actions upon receiving flood information from the media. This study used thematic analysis to analyze the media content on the floods in Selangor. Next, observation techniques were used in one of the most affected areas, namely Hulu Langat, Selangor, where content analysis of field notes was implemented to determine the emerging themes that were being formed. Finally, an online survey questionnaire was distributed through social media. This study’s findings established that what was reported in the media was correct; however, what actually occurred was worse than what was stated in the media. Through the survey, it was found that people are extremely reliant on social media and assume that logistical constraints in the delivery of assistance have contributed to negative public perceptions of disaster management agencies.

1. Introduction

Disasters are ongoing phenomena that are inevitable. Directive No. 20, which is a directive for disaster management in Malaysia, defines a disaster as an event that disrupts community activities and national affairs, causes a loss of life, property damage, economic loss, and environmental destruction beyond the community’s ability to cope, which requires extensive resource-mobilization actions [1]. However, there has been a sharp increase in disasters that have happened unexpectedly, indirectly causing huge impacts in terms of loss of life and property. These increases are due to climate change; changes to weather and temperature over a period of time have caused rises in sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding. In 2021, the 10 most critical disasters worldwide incurred total losses of USD 1.5 billion due to the damages suffered, inducing considerable economic impacts [2]. Among these devastating disasters were Hurricane Ida in the United States in September 2021, which caused 91 recorded deaths [3], and the severe flooding in Europe in July 2021, which caused 242 deaths [4].

Various types of disasters are still under control in Malaysia despite their magnitude.

Table 1. Types of disasters in Malaysia.

Natural Disaster	Artificial Disaster
Monsoon flood	Building collapse
Windstorm	Jetty collapse
Tropical storm	Explosion
Mudslide
Landslide
Earthquake
Country-wide haze
Forest and peat fire
Water and supply crises
Tsunami
Hand, foot, and mouth disease
Avian influenza
Japanese encephalitis outbreak
Enteroviral outbreak
H1N1 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic

lists different types of disasters that have occurred in Malaysia over the years. In addition, floods are common in Malaysia, appearing to be an annual occurrence and affecting an area of 29,800 km² [5]. Floods have a high degree of predictability and occur largely along the east coast, particularly in the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang, in the states of Johor and Melaka in southern Malaysia, and in the states of Perlis, Kedah, and Perak in northern Malaysia. However, floods have struck in an unforeseen manner in recent years, particularly in places with a history of few natural disasters, as was the case in Selangor.

In contrast to the east, north, and south coasts of Malaysia, where floods commonly occur, Selangor, which is located in the central region of Peninsular Malaysia, rarely receives very high rainfall. However, on 17 December 2021, there was continuous rain, causing major flooding in the Klang Valley area, which is an urban and suburban area with a high population density. Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat, Klang, Kuala Selangor, Petaling, and Sepang were among the affected areas. Such floods had never occurred in these locations before. It was discovered that disaster management operations could not be managed effectively as a result of the unanticipated phenomenon. As a result, many public comments and complaints were recorded on social media.

Therefore, this study was implemented to achieve the following objectives:

a.

To investigate the flood phenomena in Selangor as reported in the media.

b.

To identify the affected areas as well as their actual situations.

c.

To determine how the community views disaster information that has been received, as well as the perceptions formed as a result of the community’s response to the information.

This study is critical because, in a situation where all current issues, no matter how complex or contentious, are shared and frequently discussed by netizens on social media [6], it is time to investigate public perceptions of information received in the media and determine whether or not it has been misunderstood by society [7]. This may be evident in how netizens react to the information they receive, such as sharing unverified material and spreading false information [8]. By examining the information accessible in the media, as well as the actual circumstances during the floods, this study performed more specific research to solve these elements’ deficiencies, enhance disaster response operations, and improve netizens’ perceptions.

In a world full of data, various information can easily be obtained. Information is disseminated through various media channels, enabling borderless sharing. However, due to society’s freedom in exchanging information, the media should limit inauthentic information, because extensive and unrestricted information distribution leads to many people sharing false information, influencing those wanting to be reporters and informants [6].

When faced with a tragedy, the situation can become chaotic as a result of disasters that strike without warning. While disaster management agencies attempt to respond to the disaster by delivering aid to the victims, some individuals may attempt to exploit the situation by spreading false information [9], as seen during the African Ebola outbreak, Fukushima nuclear disaster, Kerala floods, and fires in the Amazon [10]. Notably, the information provided was derived from a tumultuous situation [11], which was inaccurate due to the lack of understanding in disaster management [12]. As a result of this information, netizens become angry with the government [9] and, particularly, disaster management agencies. When information about the delay in bringing relief was circulated on social media, one of the things that sparked popular outrage was that it seemed to show that the government was unprepared; nevertheless, what actually occurred is yet to be determined.

In many situations, disaster assistance is planned beforehand because disaster management agencies are already equipped to cope with catastrophes, and each agency’s preparedness has been examined during District and State Disaster Management Meetings to implement adjustments and cooperation across agencies [1,13].

Disasters are inevitable but predictable. When a disaster occurs, agencies will play their respective roles either as rescuers or providers of logistical and necessity assistance [14]. While waiting for disasters, including floods, to subside, the victims are housed at a temporary evacuation center, although some remain at their homes. In this time, it is very important to ensure that logistics such as shipping and transportation are well-managed to ensure that disaster relief such as food, beverages, and medicine can arrive at the required places within the stipulated period [15,16]. According to Apte [17], a good logistician planner in a humanitarian operation is not only skilled in procuring, transporting, and receiving supplies at the site of a humanitarian relief effort but also in performing all of these tasks with high capacity, where the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian logistics are the priority.

Therefore, Last Mile Distribution Planning (LMDP) needs to be well prepared. LMDP involves the ability to deliver basic relief supplies such as food and medicine, as well as hygiene and cleaning items, which are significantly constrained as normal supply chains and retail operations are disrupted [2]. According to Baharmand et al. [18], logistics support teams face numerous challenges, including short lead times and insufficient supplies. As a result, planned deliveries must account for uncertainty in disaster situations, because it is difficult to determine factors such as the number of affected people, their actual location, and their assistance needs [2] as well as the situation involving unreliable routes and inadequacy of supplies [19].

In disaster management, a key aspect in determining the efficiency of rescue and delivery of supplies is information. Information regarding the affected areas, humanitarian aid, and updates on evacuation centers is very important because in the event of a disaster, the information obtained is constantly changing, dynamic, and uncertain [11], depending on the situation. The media now plays a major role in conveying information; however, there are times when the media channels are misused by various individuals in conveying false and inaccurate information, leading to confusion [20], especially among the general population. In overcoming such problems, the most critical step to take is ensuring the existence of accurate and reliable information delivery channels.

The effective handling of disaster management operations requires collaborative and strategic planning [11]. Therefore, coordination between agencies is vital for effective and efficient logistics support [21]. The operations can only be measured when there is inter-agency coordination. Each of these agencies has its own complementary roles. However, planning is sometimes stunted from situations that occur due to disasters, such as disconnected and damaged roads, potholes in the road, and congestion, which can cause challenges to disaster management agencies to perform their duties effectively and efficiently [22]. Thus, the challenges that disaster management agencies have to overcome are delays in the delivery of disaster relief [23].

At the same time, in a situation where all agencies are working hard to provide disaster relief, some people try to take advantage by making the issue of people’s welfare a matter to be criticized in the media. Various true and sometimes untrue information is shared, especially on social media. Such information is very easy to convey to other communities because anyone can be a reporter, and all information posted on social media will be published [6], compared with reports printed in newspapers that have to go through a process of content verification and editing before being published. It has become the culture of contemporary society to share whatever is seen and heard on social media before confirming the truth of the information. In fact, some people like to be the first to post something on social media to receive many ‘likes’.

Nonetheless, in the pursuit of the passion of information delivery to social media, many do not understand that the information presented exacerbates the situation, especially during disasters. Disaster management is very complex and requires effectiveness and efficiency. However, in situations where disaster strikes, the delivery of aid is very difficult because it is faced with excessive uncertainties. As a result, when some victims are late in receiving assistance, it is then posted on social media as if to show that the welfare of the community is not being emphasized. People who do not understand the real situation assume that the victim has been sidelined due to unclear and untrue media reporting.

2. Materials and Methods

This research was conducted during the disaster and post-disaster phase, with data collection performed in three phases. The first phase involved collecting information on the floods in Selangor through information such as news in newspapers and free information from social media from 17 to 30 December 2021. This information was analyzed using content analysis and then, in the form of themes, according to the thematic analysis approach. The second phase involved carrying out visits to flood-affected areas on 24 and 25 December 2021 in Hulu Langat, Selangor, to observe the flood situation and post-flood challenges. During the visit, observations focused on the state of the area, with comparisons made between information obtained from news in the press and independent information from social media. Through the observations carried out, the reliability of the information obtained was evaluated to derive a true picture of the floods that occurred. The next phase, Phase 3, involved information collected using a questionnaire by focusing on the respondents consisting of flood victims, volunteers, and those who were not directly involved with the flood but know the flood situation. The survey was conducted to assess their perspectives on information management and associated with flood events that occurred, in addition to assessing the level of possibility of spreading false news based on the information obtained by respondents. Much research on gender explains how complex processes define gender and gender relations. This study comprises only male and female categories in the survey form. Non-binary gender or any other gender have significance for many aspects of society, which present more representative and responsive to a diverse society, however, this study is academically oriented without prejudice and has the limitation of gender selection that is unrelated to any connection such as nature and culture.

2.1. Secondary Data Collection

In identifying the implications of the flood phenomenon and media reporting on this phenomenon, a content analysis method was used. The origin of content analysis lies in Harold Lasswell’s classic communication process, of who says what to whom and with what effect [8]. Therefore, content analysis was suitable for examining the news reported during the period of 17 to 30 December 2021. This period was chosen to observe all the news related to floods that occurred in Selangor, when high rainfall occurred in this area. This study was based on a content analysis through news obtained online. Online news is now the preferred choice of the community because the latest information can be accessed at any time, compared with news that is shown on television only at certain times, as well as news in newspapers that is only published once a day.

This study developed a list of online news sources that had a high hit rate and discovered seven websites as part of the online news sampling procedure. This demonstrates how reliant the community is on the information provided on these websites. Subsequently, 91 flood-related news pieces were examined, resulting in a total of 91 articles for content analysis in the final research. The chosen articles were evaluated by reading them on the websites where they were first published. The articles were coded based on studies by Tandoc et al. [6] for common news values in the literature such as timeliness, prominence, and impact. These news values are related to recent issues or events, involve either individuals or organizations, and have a high significance in terms of their effects or consequences for the population. Next, content analysis was carried out, comprising three approaches: conventional, targeted, and summarizing. For this study, a summarizing approach was employed to create codes and categories. Content analysis of the media news led to the identification of keywords, which then served as a basis for defining the themes that emerged from the media news. The same type of analysis was subsequently repeated.

News disseminated through the media forms social misinformation [10], which sometimes influences the spread of false news [6,10].

2.2. Observation

Next, data collection continued by performing observations to explore the information displayed on social media in line with that taking place onsite. In addition, observations were conducted to determine a critical, realistic onset situation that took place in the affected areas. The research team traveled to Hulu Langat, which was severely affected. Here, the team made observations and took detailed field notes. Through field notes, the research team captured information that could not be described through social media reports. Data collected from the observation were recorded in the field notes. In qualitative methodology, field notes are used for documenting contextual information [24]. Moreover, information gathered in the field can be used to analyze the current situation and triangulate with the information reported on social media.

2.3. Survey

A quantitative approach was used to investigate the community’s perception of the floods that occurred in the state of Selangor through social media and how the community responded and accepted the information received. The questionnaire was self-administered for two weeks, from 17 to 31 December 2021. This period was chosen because the floods happened at that time, causing various authentic and inauthentic reports to spread on social media. The self-administered questionnaire was divided by two types: a paper questionnaire (hard copy) and an electronic questionnaire. The hard copy questionnaire was distributed to responders from the victim and volunteer groups. During the distribution of the questionnaire to these two groups, the volunteer group participated more in answering the questionnaire, whereas the victim group refused and resisted participating. Most of them were angry and sad about what had happened. On the other hand, the Internet website medium was used to distribute questionnaires to a larger group of respondents; this was open to people who were not involved in the disaster, victim group, or volunteer group. Therefore, this study provided a unique opportunity to gain insights into the population’s perceptions. A total of 276 respondents completed the questionnaire.

3. Results

Based on data collection from social media, it was found that many media visitors read flood news from the following websites and social sites for the period 17 to 30 December 2021, as shown in Appendix A. Themes formed from the media content are detailed in

Table 2. Theme from the media content analysis.

Theme	Structural Theme	Description
Flood impact	Transferring victims to evacuation centers	Information related to the number of flood victims affected, which can be in the form of victim statistics and evacuation center opening statistics to accommodate the temporary evacuation of flood victims.
	Damage due to floods	Information about flood-related damage, which not only includes damage to victims’ homes, but also the destruction of buildings, facilities, and damage to inter-area highways.
	Number of deaths due to floods	Information on how many individuals are affected by the floods. Statistics on the number of casualties may be used to provide this information.
Humanitarian disaster response and logistics	Disaster management by agencies	Information related to the assignment of agencies involved in disaster management, not limited to NADMA, Royal Malaysian Police, Fire Department, Social and Welfare Department, Civil Defence Force, and the Armed Forces.
	Donation and contribution	Information related to donations and contributions provided by the government as well as NGOs in the form of monetary, goods, and manpower from volunteers.

.

To supplement the information gleaned from social media, the research team visited one of the flood-affected areas to observe first-hand how bad the situation was. Field notes were collected as a result of the observations performed. Based on the observations, the information in the media was intertwined with the reports to validate the news.

Table 3. On-site observations.

Theme	Description	Observation
Flood impact	Travel to residential areas in Hulu Langat was still affected. At that time, the water had not receded, and several vehicles were damaged and stranded on the shoulder of the road. The 6 km long congestion caused by roadblocks made only one lane usable. This obstacle was due to the damaged vehicles that could not be removed as well as garbage and the disposal of damaged goods and furniture from residents.	Post-disaster management was not well managed with congested road conditions due to obstacles from damaged vehicles and rubbish.
Area of affected residential housing	It seemed that the residential houses were badly affected, in addition to an entire house that had collapsed. Residents were upset due to damage to furniture and home appliances, in addition to losing things that had been washed away by the floods.	There were urgent needs for logistical assistance in providing basic necessities, equipment, and hardware.
Logistics and manpower assistance	Witnessed people cleaning their houses assisted by volunteers from NGOs and the university. Welfare department and NGOs sent necessities such as food and clean water to the residents. Many volunteers helped to remove the goods and do the laundry. Damaged items were left by the side of the road.	Assistance to the victims was provided by government agencies, NGOs, and university volunteers. Relief management was well coordinated, but the clean-up was not well-managed.
Garbage and waste management	Almost every resident had to remove damaged items and equipment from their houses before the cleaning process. The damaged goods and equipment had to be placed on the roadside because no domestic garbage or waste collection services were implemented. This meant that piles of rubbish and waste filled the road.	During the post-disaster session, the District Office should supply garbage and trash management. Delays in the collection of trash and waste resulted in them filling the road and obstructing vehicle access.
Information management	Residents were concerned about a lack of flood information and were unprepared for disasters. Some members of the community seized their chance to become champions for disseminating information through the latest social media platforms. However, the admission of these groups into impacted areas contributed to the traffic congestion.	In locations where the populace is unprepared to deal with the floods, disaster information management is not adequately managed. In addition, barriers should be erected to prohibit the entry of all cars except those belonging to residents, government agencies doing their tasks, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and volunteers who provide aid. These limits would not only aid in the distribution of relief, but also help to prevent the dissemination of false information.

displays a collection of field notes made during a visit to Hulu Langat from 20 to 24 December 2021, when the rain had begun to cease in the impacted areas. The field notes here are organized by topic.

Floods have been some of the biggest contemporary incidents in Selangor; therefore, the research team conducted a survey to determine the community’s perceptions of what happened as a result of information they received from social media. This was because community perceptions shape the dissemination of information. The survey was made available for responses for a period of two weeks, from 17 to 31 December 2021.

The distribution of respondents from the survey is depicted in

Table 4. Respondents’ demographic profiles.

Characteristics		Frequency	Proportion
Age	Less than 20 years old	24	8.70%
	21–30 years old	169	61.23%
	31–40 years old	34	12.32%
	41–50 years old	48	17.39%
	51 years old and above	1	0.36%
	Total	276	100.00%
Gender	Male	151	54.71%
	Female	125	45.29%
	Total	276	100.00%
Race	Malay	247	92.86%
	Cina	9	3.38%
	Indian	10	3.76%
	Others	10	1.47%
	Total	276	100.00%
Level of education	No formal education	1	0.36%
	High school graduates	4	1.45%
	SPM	29	10.51%
	Degree	208	75.36%
	Bachelor	32	11.59%
	Ph.D.	2	0.72%
	Total	276	100.00%
Media applications often used	Facebook	155	22.53%
	Instagram	185	26.89%
	WhatsApp	250	36.34%
	Twitter	98	14.24%
	Total	276	100.00%
Involvement in disaster	Victim	13	4.71%
	Volunteer	80	28.99%
	Not directly involved	183	66.30%
	Total	276	100.00%

, following the survey results. Most people who responded to the poll were between the ages of 20 and 51 years old, whereas 61% of the participants were between the ages of 21 and 30. The number of female respondents was about equal to the number of male respondents. Every respondent used at least two social media applications regularly. Respondents were asked to describe their actions during the flood in the poll. From the data obtained, it was found that 66% were not directly involved, 29% were flood volunteers, and 5% were flood victims who had suffered as a result of the disaster.

According to the demographic data of the respondents in Table 4, it can be concluded that the respondents who voluntarily participated in this study were active users of social media platforms. Moreover, 34% of the respondents were directly involved in the recent disaster, whereas 66% were not involved but were aware of the disaster.

3.1. Social Media Usage

To determine how respondents obtained information about current issues, they were asked using questions related to news and other information they obtained from social media platforms, which are presented in this section. The respondents were reported to use social media to keep up with current events and news.

Table 5. The proportions of respondents who ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ with social media usage.

Items	Male	Female	Chi-Squared	df	p-Value
I actively read news, whether online or in print media.	124 (44.9%)	104 (37.7%)	3.941	4	0.414
Social media is my primary source for obtaining news.	129 (46.7%)	117 (42.4%)	8.074	4	0.089
I spend a total of more than 5 h per day on social media platforms.	84 (30.4%)	91 (33.0%)	16.172	4	0.003
I prefer to stay up to date with current news through social media.	122 (44.2%)	105 (38.0%)	2.341	4	0.673
I check the content of the news stories that have been shared on social media.	120 (43.5%)	100 (36.2%)	4.028	4	0.402

shows the percentage of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed with statements about media and social media usage. The results revealed that respondents had a strong ability to obtain news and information from social media, which was used as a platform to find the information they needed. Females were reported to have spent more than 5 h a day on social media platforms (p = 0.003 < 0.05 compared with males). However, there were no significant differences between males and females in regard to how actively news was read, whether online or in print media (p = 0.414), whether social media was the primary source for obtaining news (p = 0.089), preferences for receiving current news through social media (p = 0.6730), and checking the content of news stories that had been shared on social media (p = 0.402). Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of media has become a necessity for everyone, and females are more likely to spend a total of more than 5 h per day on social media for various needs. These findings are in line with a study conducted by Christian et al. [25], who discovered that females are more likely to use social media to socialize [25,26], obtain information, and kill time [25].

3.2. Level of the Adequacy of the Information Obtained

This section explores the degree of information gained from sources, such as the adequacy, desire for information, and formation of beliefs, that influence how respondents evaluate the information they have obtained as a result of the extensive usage of social media for current information and news. It was determined that a large percentage of the answers to the news collected contained sufficient information and met the initial information requirements.

Table 6. The proportion of respondents who ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ on the level of adequacy of the information obtained.

Items	Male	Female	Chi-Squared	df	p-Value
The news I receive through social media is sufficiently comprehensive and in-depth.	81 (29.3%)	48 (17.4%)	7.570	4	0.109
The news I receive through social media meets my requirements.	90 (32.6%)	78 (28.3%)	2.559	4	0.634
I like to read views, videos, and comments posted on social media.	63 (22.8%)	48 (17.4%)	10.167	4	0.038
I believe that everything presented on social media is true.	42 (15.2%)	22 (8.0%)	7.274	4	0.122
Social media has had an impact on my personal beliefs.	46 (16.7%)	25 (9.1%)	6.304	4	0.178

shows the percentage of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed with statements about the level of the adequacy of the information obtained. Males were reported to like reading views, videos, and comments posted on social media, having a statistically significant effect on the level of adequacy of information obtained (p = 0.038 < 0.05), which is a significant finding, as stated by Venkatesh et al. [27] in Ye et al. [28]. However, there was no significant difference between males and females in regard to news in social media being perceived as sufficiently comprehensive and in depth (p = 0.109), meeting respondents’ requirements (p = 0.634), everything presented on social media being true (p = 0.122), and impacts on personal beliefs (p = 0.178). Furthermore, it is clear that both groups had little trust in information gained through social media and believed that information obtained through social media did not influence their personalities.

3.3. Perception of the Effectiveness of Disaster Management

The next step was to determine respondents’ perceptions of disasters after discovering that respondents of this survey used social media to keep up with current news and issues, as shown in Table 5, as well as their level of trust and perception of the adequacy of information obtained through social media, as shown in Table 6. The same respondents were also asked about their perspectives on disasters that have taken place.

Table 7. Respondent’s perceptions of disasters.

Items	Agreed			Disagreed
	Victims (%)	Volunteers (%)	Not Directly Involved (%)	Victims (%)	Volunteers (%)	Not Directly Involved (%)
I believe that a lack of qualified staff and resources causes delays in the delivery of disaster relief.	9 (3.3%)	64 (23.2%)	150 (54.3%)	4 (1.4%)	15 (5.4%)	34 (12.3%)
I believe that the use of existing equipment is not sufficient to support disaster logistics operations	10 (3.6%)	68 (24.6%)	154 (55.8%)	3 (1.1%)	11 (4.0%)	30 (10.9%)
I believe that the lack of training in dealing with disasters causes management difficulties.	9 (3.3%)	67 (24.3%)	155 (56.2%)	4 (1.4%)	12 (4.7%)	29 (10.5%)
I believe that lack of cooperation causes management constraints.	9 (3.3%)	70 (25.4%)	161 (58.3%)	4 (1.4%)	9 (3.3%)	23 (8.3%)
I believe that the poor planning of disaster logistics operations is the cause of the delays.	10 (3.6%)	68 (24.6%)	160 (58.0%)	3 (1.1%)	11 (4.0%)	24 (8.7%)

depicts the perceptions of victims and volunteers who were on the scene during the tragedy as well as respondents who were not directly involved but shared perceptions based on news and information gained through social media. Perceptions are formed from understanding and interpreting a situation, event, or incident [29]. In this table, it can be seen that respondents agreed that there were some weaknesses in disaster management: 75% of respondents believed that these weaknesses occurred due to a lack of qualified staff, equipment limitations, and skills formed as a result of training, in tandem with good disaster management collaboration and humanitarian logistics assistance management. The perceptions formed from the victim and volunteer groups were the results of experience and information gleaned from the media; other respondents who were not directly involved in the disaster agreed, based on the information obtained from the media. This created a perception that there were weaknesses in disaster management.

There have been many studies addressing issues related to the effectiveness of disaster management in Malaysia [30,31,32,33]. A study on disaster management that focused on the floods that occurred in Selangor, Malaysia, was carried out by Rahman [31], validating the results of this study where the poor coordination between agencies, lack of direction, and improper logistics planning caused delays in rescue efforts and delays in the delivery of aid. In addition, it was revealed that the lack of competence in disaster management caused delays in the response to catastrophes, thus supporting the issue of a lack of competent employees and lack of training, as in this study. The perception of weak coordination between agencies in responding to floods was also supported in a study of flood management in Johor by Muhaimin et al. [34], where the cause of poor coordination was due to agencies having high confidence in responding to floods individually.

4. Discussion

The six badly hit locations in Selangor were those classified as not being flood-prone. Thus, the residents in the areas were caught off-guard by the persistent and unexpected rainfall. Many residents were stranded in their homes due to the rapid rise in water levels, while five people died as a result of their inability to make it to evacuation facilities in time. In the face of disasters, the population in Selangor is ill-prepared and unaware.

Throughout the period of 17 to 30 December 2021, social media reporting was seen to primarily focus on the flood crisis, which caused damage and deaths, as well as reports on the evacuation of residents at evacuation centers. Furthermore, the reports discussed disaster relief efforts, as well as donations and contributions made not only by the government but also by NGOs and university volunteers, in the forms of food aid, basic living requirements, and manpower for cleaning homes, mosques, and other buildings. However, there were still instances where relief was delivered late. According to media reports, the population’s unpreparedness stemmed from the fact that residents in urban regions are rarely exposed to the possibility of calamity. Furthermore, many individuals remained stranded, with many hesitant to evacuate to evacuation centers due to their perceptions that the storm was a flash flood.

The visit revealed that the condition depicted in the media was accurate and even worse than described, with the impact of the floods causing problems for the population due to poor post-disaster management. Although numerous organizations, NGOs, and volunteers had been sending aid and personnel to assist the afflicted populations, responsible parties such as district offices failed to manage waste and rubbish disposal. Simultaneously, residents appear to be more selfish in removing any products or equipment that could not be used, resulting in numerous piles of garbage, which caused traffic congestion and delays in the delivery of relief. Severe floods are a rare occurrence in urban areas; therefore, more individuals took advantage of the chance to share information on social media by livestreaming the situation, which resulted in an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads to affected residents’ homes. To prevent inauthentic material from being spread on social media, restrictions on information management must be tightened so that not all communities can act as reporters, as occurred in this case.

This study also utilized a method to assess how the public viewed flood information gathered through the media. The media was used by respondents to learn about current events and understand what is going on in the world. Respondents were shown to be heavily reliant on social media for gathering information. Respondents agreed that the information collected was sufficient in terms of current issue information needs but believed that the information received did not change or form their ideas, and they had no intention of disseminating the information received. Respondents believed that the lack of cooperation from all disaster management agencies and inadequate assets and equipment, as well as poor disaster preparedness training by agencies, were the causes of disaster management limits and delays in delivering disaster relief.

This demonstrates that information obtained from the media between 17 and 30 December 2021 was accurate, based on the implementation of the triangulation process and validation process carried out by the research team in the affected areas, although employing the observation methodology helped the research team obtain more information related to post-disaster management issues, including waste management problems. By evaluating the information and news published on social media, this study was able to assess the perceptions of social media users who took part in the survey. Respondents were found to be up-to-date on information regarding the floods and consistently kept up with the latest news. Meanwhile, delays in disaster response and logistical challenges in delivering aid led to the poor public view of disaster management agencies.

5. Conclusions

Overall, it is clear that flooding in urban areas is a rare event. However, it may be shown indirectly that disaster management in the affected regions is generally inadequate, presumably due to disaster management agencies’ deficiencies and the population’s unpreparedness and lack of expectations. Reports in the media assist the public in comprehending the situation, but the true situation in the impacted areas is far worse and cannot be portrayed in the media. Thus far, disaster management has primarily concentrated on catastrophe response, although it has been highlighted that post-disaster management requires improvement. Furthermore, although believing that the obstacles and limits arise for many reasons, Malaysians have a strong interest in the information published in the media. Hence, the findings of this study can be useful in improving disaster management in the future, with a particular emphasis on post-disaster management.