Policy and Mechanism of National Disaster Management and Relief, 1997 (Malaysia)

The objective of the Policy Mechanism of National Disaster Management and Relief is to draw a Land Disaster Management and Relief Policy based on the level of disaster and to establish a Management Mechanism which decides the role and responsibility of agencies involved in actions against a disaster. For the purpose of this directive, "Disaster" is defined as an incident which occurs in a sudden manner and complex in its nature and that causes losses of lives, damages to property or natural environment and bring a deep effect to local activities. Such incident needs a management that involves extensive resources, equipment, skills and manpower from many agencies with an effective coordination, which is possibly demanding a complex action and would take a long time. The Directive identifies which government agency handles different types of disasters. It also provides a classification of disasters by various levels in accordance with which disaster management will be controlled, as well as stages of order and control for orderly, consolidated and effective disaster management.