Land allocation approach for the flood victims in Kuala Krai / Mohamad Haizam Mohamed Saraf

Prior to 2014 major floods in Kelantan, 2,374 units of houses were destroyed. The governments had promised to reconstruct the houses, however only 143 units of post disaster house were able to complete due to lack of land to accommodate the flood victims with land ownership constraints. The current Malaysian practice in post disaster house construction shows a gap as the procedure to build the house only recognises the land owners. A land allocation policy for victims without land ownership has yet to be introduced in Malaysia. Using a case study approach, the thrust of the research was to underscore the need of land allocation approach for the flood victims who have land ownership constraints in post disaster house construction. From 223 flood victims in Kuala Krai at the case study area, purposeful sampling led to the enlistment of 128 flood victims with land ownership constraints who later were interviewed using a semi structured interview. Further, twelve experts from the perspectives of land law, policies and administrations were interviewed by using a semi structured interview to gauge their perceptions in land allocation approach in post disaster context. Data from the interviews were analysed by using content analysis. Findings indicated that tenant was the main constraint behind the delay of the post disaster house construction. Apparently, they do not have the means or money to buy new land for the construction of the post disaster house. Hence, the experts recommended the state alienation approach in accordance with National Land Code 1965 to allocate land for emergency, temporary shelters and post disaster house construction. The land allocation can assist governments in ensuring that the land to shelter disaster victims can be made available after the disaster.