Developing Criteria of Design Guidelines for Public Spaces Serving as Evacuation Centers in Malaysia

An Assessment to Determine the Typology of Spaces for a Flood Evacuation Centre in Malaysia

“…However, due to the government's use of public buildings such as schools as temporary evacuation centres, many evacuees have complained that evacuation centres in Malaysia's flood-prone areas are unsuitable in terms of space, physical facilities, management, and other factors (Suhardi, 2017;W Seman et al, 2021). According to the findings of a study conducted by Fakrulhazri, Hassan & Ahmad (2018), the locals are extremely dissatisfied with Temporary Flood Transfer Centres (TFTCs), such as a school hall that was not designed to be a flood evacuation centre but was gazetted as one by the government.…”

“…Human motivation and needs are critical during a catastrophe, especially for flood victims. Hence, the Hierarchy of Needs model by Maslow is studied to describe the major needs of victims, while the model possibilities are shown in many works of literature on the past, current, and future emergency shelter designs (Suhardi, 2017). Simply expressed, this theory of psychology defined by Abraham Maslow helps understand what a person needs to motivate themselves and continue to move forward during a crisis (Onainor, 2019).…”

“…W Seman et al (2021) claimed that physical spaces play the most important role in developing or selecting a flood evacuation centre to bring satisfaction to the occupant. However, due to the government's use of public facilities such as schools, mosques, and community halls as temporary evacuation centres, many evacuees have complained that the majority of the evacuation centres in Malaysia's flood-prone areas are unsuitable in terms of space, physical facilities, management, and other factors (Suhardi, 2017;W Seman et al, 2021). The study by Zahari and Hashim (2018), on the other hand, indicated that there is no implementation of standards or guidelines for flood relief shelters in Malaysia.…”