Figure 1 Study Areas
Penang Island Map
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Residents Awareness Towards Landslide Disaster
In Penang
Habibah Lateh, Vijaya Govindasamy
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ighlands and hillsides are one of the natural resources of the state of Penang. It is part of the environment and is very valuable because besides that it is contributing to
the economy and also keeps a treasure of flora and fauna of Penang. People staying near the hills are often exposed to the activities of exploration of hills and mountains with a slope greater than 25 degrees and above. This phenomenon becomes more complex when there are more and more of a greedy and irresponsible people baring the hilly areas. Their greed is not only invites disaster to the residen, property and the environ- ment but also cause severe losses to the government. Rapid development along the hillside have been made to meet the current demand. Each development undertaken is not denied, would lead to certain implications. Similarly, the development carried out in the hills would have implications on the envi- ronment and also the safe of the residents staying on the hills. Among the implications arising from the exploration on the hillside causing excessive environmental problems such as soil erosion and landslides, water pollution, rising temperatures, the original placement disruption, loss of habitat for flora and fauna, sedimentation and flooding phenomena. Landslide awareness consideration is important in assessing the quality of life since the environment impact directly on the well-being of the residents. Many of the guidelines and the Act has been prepared to address the landslide, but landslides continue to happen in this state. Although there is a supporting strategy for landslide, such as monitoring landslide, landslide research, dissemination of landslide information, landslide training and also inter-agency cooperation and coordination, but there is no other on-going landslide programs strongly supporting strat- egy for landslide awareness and knowledge or landslide edu- cation in schools or public, in addressing landslide occur- rences.
Landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Al- though the action of gravity is the primary driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affect- ing the original slope stability. By human exploitation along
the hill for various purposes, resulting in soil erosion as well as causing much loss to the residents who live nearby. This is a normal event that occurs in the hilly areas, but not to be tak- en seriously because of lack of response from the majority par- ty and its residents. Furthermore hills are mostly owned by individuals and difficult to prevent them from developing. Because it gets the attention that is not so serious, so landslides are not taken seriously by certain parties, including residents who are brave enough to build their houses on the hill. For example, landslide that occurred on Taman Bukit Mewah, Bukit Antarabangsa Luxury Hill Park, Hill Interna- tional, Ampang, Selangor on December 6, 2008 is due to the negligence of greedy people who cannot control development on hills which claimed many lives and destroyed property worth. Frequent landslides involving loss of life, but the action taken only after the landslide and it continues to forgotten or neglected. No matter what, landslides are caused by lack of awareness and knowledge of various parties including its res- idents. They are less aware of the disasters set up home in a dangerous slopes. This recurrence lead to deterioration of the environment and affect the state of Penang source of income, which is an important tourist center in Malaysia. This is due to the ignorance of various parties who are not aware and not knowledgeable of landslide disaster. Many green plants have been destroyed to open the forest for the construction. Ani- mals become extinct due to human activities which do not have compassion on the destruction of this beautiful nature. This activity invites other disasters such as flash floods, sedi- mentation, and so forth. All levels of society should be aware and must have a high knowledge in order to maintain a natu- ral environment for future generations. Landslides, flash floods and so on have contributed to severe environmental degradation in both rural and urban areas of Penang, and threaten human life and other wildlife on a large scale. Less focus on the preservation of nature and more focused in mak- ing a profit lead to catastrophic landslides. Landslide prob- lems underestimated by most parties as well as residents. A major challenge for all parties involved in addressing the landslide is to translate policy intervention landslides in a landslide awareness programs, projects and other initiatives to
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help advance the aim of this study to increase resident aware- ness of the dangers of landslides. Hence the importance of landslide disaster awareness programs to reduce the occur- rence of landslides in the state with the support of all parties such as government, private or resident in dealing with this problem.
Environment includes all living and non-living objects. We live in the environment and use the land to meet our needs. Development also means meeting the needs of the people. While meeting the ever-growing needs, we put pressure on the environment. When the pressure exceeds the carrying ca- pacity of the environment to repair or replace itself, it creates a serious problem of environmental degradation such as landslide, soil erosion, flood and etc. If we use any environ- mental resource such as hills and mountains beyond its limit of replacement, we may lose it forever. Therefore, there is a need to create ‘awareness’ about hills and mountains protec- tion. While efforts are being made at the national and interna- tional level to protect our environment, it is also the responsi- bility of every residents to use our environmental resources with care and protect them from degradation. This reciprocity between self-produced action and environmental events lies at the heart of the development of a sense of competence [1]. En- vironment constitutes a very important part of our life. To un- derstand life without studying the impact of environment is simply impossible. The need to protect environment can be ignored only at our peril. We use environmental resources in our daily life. These resources are renewable and non- renewable. We have to be more cautious in consuming non- renewable resources like hills and mountains, which are prone to natural disasters. All human activities have an impact on exploration of the hills. But lately, the human influence on the environment has increased with the increase in population and human needs. In the past two decades, landslide has at- tracted the attention of decision makers, scientists and even residents in many parts of the world. They are becoming in- creasingly conscious of this issue. People are now aware of the need to protect the natural environmental resources of soil or land and plant life that constitute the natural capital on which man depends on. Landslide issues began to be taken seriously because of the lack of solutions to the problem. If these issues are not taken seriously, the next generation may have a miser- able life in facing the challenges of natural disasters. So, a bet- ter understanding of the issues among the residents of landslides and other parties involved directly or indirectly be enhanced and implemented properly in order to create a car- ing society on the environment as a whole. According to a cen- tral principle of ecological psychology developed by James and Eleanor Gibson [2], [3], [4] to be a living organism (to be animate) means to have agency that functions in the service of maintaining an awareness of the environment.
Penang island is a small state, so it is not surprising that developers have targeted the hill land for all sorts of develop- ment ranging from housing to transportation, industries and recreation. More than 50% of the Penang Island is made up of
steep topography above 60m [5]. As such, hill land is abun- dantly available on the island. Penang is one of the most rapid industrialisation, fast technological change, highest rate of urbanization and lead to greater demands for land. As such, it is anticipated that developers will cast their eyes on the re- maining hill land on the island. Two districts from the north- east and southwest of Penang Island were selected which were situated at the prone area of landslide disasters. Therefore, it would be very interesting to examine whether the two districts residents are aware about the landslide disasters. So, the awareness among the residents are very important to prevent future landslides. Public Awareness Unit is responsible for training personnel in Public Work Departments (PWD) and creating public awareness [6]. Human consciousness always occurs in relation to the environment, and with the nature and man are not two separate things, but both should be shared. In a review by [7], important variables include biospheric values (care for plants, animals, and communities of living things) and the self-perceived ability to reduce threats to the envi- ronment. Awareness of landslides arising from the knowledge possessed by residents who live in areas prone to landslide hazards disaster. Residents awareness through various chan- nels can be combined with technical knowledge taken from culture residents to raise awareness and confidence in living and empower them to act when faced with adversity.
Awareness provides a secure environment and can address
the problems faced by residents in the event of landslides. Two examples of how residents knowledge can be used to heighten awareness and develop balanced environment of early precau- tions are, first to enjoined the spirit of planting greenery, and secondly, be exposed to incidents of a landslide disasters. These and other techniques are among the few indigenous early precautions which can serve as sign to prevent the inci- dence of landslides. They can be used to alert resident of an impending landslide disaster and to seek ways not to destroy the hilly areas reserves or increase the concrete buildings of maintaining green plants. On a regional scale, weather experts have already warned of severe landslides and floods after heavy rains, while Penang meteorologists predicted a wet sea- son in the coming month. Landslide damage may also occur when hill lands are exhausted and no maintenance are made in their protection. At present there are several laws governing environment and landslide management issues, but there is no umbrella landslide legislation or a broader policy framework which deals with all landslide concerns. Landslide become one of the major issue in the state of Penang. The erosion of the soil surface and which makes soil heavier occur in the slopes due to the direct exposure of the soil surface to the rainfall. As we know, Penang is experiencing monsoon season, causing heavy rain throughout the year. Moreover, runoff of the surface pro- portionally increases and infiltrate the pore water pressure. As this flow is downward, this washes down the soil and causes the soil erosion. Finally, this type of erosion could cause major landslides.
All over the world, each year landslide disasters take a huge toll in deaths, property damage and economic loss. Dis- asters have always been part of the human experience [8]. Res- ident’s perceptions of landslide disasters are influence by their
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age, educational background and experiences. Research on residents landslide knowledge becomes vital if it is necessary to develop citizens who can take responsibility to protect and improve the environment. In this way, landslide awareness program or landslide education are underpinned with prin- ciples and attitudes that will benefit the residents. If the resi- dents are aware of the landslide disasters for the long-term procedures faced by the them, they are more likely to take steps to reduce potential losses. While landslide research and landslide protection policy has ever since been dominated by a technical world view, the social and socio-economic aspects gained in importance in recent decades due to expansive and intensified hill land use, rising damage potentials in landslide areas and, thus, increasing conflicts between socio-economic on hill land use and landslide protection policy. While there are many ways that people form their attitudes [9],[11], two are relevant here, media and direct personal experience. So, the residents can be aware of landslide disaster by their per- sonal experience, too. During the last years a shift in para- digms can be observed from a technical oriented landslide protection towards landslide awareness, which takes all so- cietal advantages and disadvantages, or in economic terms, all benefits and costs of different landslide awareness strategies into account. Design deficiency can also cause landslides and this has been acknowledged by experts saying a review of the causes of landslides indicates that most of the landslides are man-made slopes and are mainly due to design deficiency [10]. [12] define stakeholders as individuals or groups who may receive a significant impact from the development of a project or program and the World Development Council for Sustainable Development (2003) is disclosed as a residents or institutions who are affected, or may be affected , by the activi- ties of certain organizations. [13] cite Buttel’s observation that the items used in his study “may tap a somewhat superfical awareness of environmental problems rather than a more meaningful commitment to solve such problems”. This indi- cates that residents should be more positive for the environ- ment before the disaster occurred and take steps too late.
Over recent decades, global problems relating landslide disasters have increased dramatically. It is caused by excessive hill land use. Lands scarcity on a global scale, deforestation, degradation of hill areas, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity, are some of the problems that have become a major concern. Although high rainfalls is the cause of the landslide, but the man-made factors will be the main cause of landslides. Most of the landslides in two monsoon seasons of Malaysia are in- duced by the high rainfalls and more than 80% of landslides were caused by man-made factors, mainly design and con- struction errors [10]. Destruction of forests and mountains have caused many environmental problems such as landslides, soil erosion and etc have reached such levels that have already resulted in serious environmental problems, as well as negative impact on the environment, and inevitably influencing prospects for long-term economic growth. With heavy rainfall throughout the year in many Asian countries, hill or mountain land have become prone to landslides, ero- sion, flash floods, lightning or rain, global warming due to rampant felling of green plants have taken a toll on the coun-
tries here. Now the landslide problems have an adverse effect upon quality of life. Disaster tragedies as well as landslide disasters due to extensive development at hill slopes given rise to the public concern in recent years. Recently, development of hill areas and hill slopes have increased risks of landslides which caused substantial loss of human life and damages to the properties and infrastructures. The most important lesson from experience is that prevention of disaster is better than trying to revenge the damage once it has occured as stated in Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992 [14].
Landscape no longer alien to residents in this state, espe- cially in urban areas. An increasing number of private con- struction of luxury houses on hills, residential premises, ho- tels, recreational parks, resorts, tourism areas, other basic facil- ities began to emphasize the green environment and to illumi- nate the art of beautiful and interesting landscapes. [15] sug- gested that attitudes must be based on knowledge, or to res- tate this in terms of attitude theory, a general positive or nega- tive orientation toward the environment must be based on beliefs. Knowledge and awareness of a person can change the environment to safe or unsafe. [16] found that those with more knowledge did have more favorable environmental attitudes and held themselves more responsible for pro-environmental acts. [17] showed that for a sample of Illinois residents those with more knowledge had more positive environmental atti- tudes. Younger people, well educated people, and politically liberal people tend to be more concerned about environmental quality than their older, less educated, and politically conserv- ative counterparts. Attending an environmental training camp can improve the knowledge and awareness of landslides among the residents. In a field experiment [18] did a more convincing test of the hypothesis by showing that those who attended a camp which increased knowledge had both greater knowledge and a more liberal attitude toward forest manage- ment than a control group.
In this contribution it is argued that the current challenge in landslide awareness research consists in developing a better understanding of the interrelations and social dynamics of landslide knowledge, perception, preparedness, vulnerability, deep concern about the destruction of green plants on hilly areas, landslide management, landslide policy and etc, to take this into account in a modern design of landslide awareness programs. The relationship between landslide awareness and knowledge are are two things that should emphasized in ad- dressing the problem of landslides in the state or across the country. The discusses of the shortcomings of the current ap- proaches with a special focus on landslide awareness among the residents in this island and disregard for rapid develop- ment along the hill slopes until destroyed the natural envi- ronment of this state. In fact, the hill is an important compo- nent of tourism and cultural heritage of the state. If this state is engulfed by concrete buildings, then this will cause ‘heat isl- and’ solely in the name of 'development'. This is considered an important contributor to catastrophic landslides. Residents’ awareness of the importance of nature and beautiful greenery is more pronounced due to the promotional efforts by the Government National Landscape Department under the Min-
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istry of Housing and Local Government, established in 1996. [19] examines more comprehensive survey data to suggest environment attitudes are more stable than their earlier litera- ture implied. Establishment in line with the vision of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who wants to landscape the necessary aspects in all development projects and responsibilities to state governments and local authorities deal with the serious aspects such as landslides.
The actual amount of landslide damage of a specific landslide event depends on the vulnerability of the affected socio-economic and ecological systems, i.e., broadly defined, on their potential to be harmed by a hazardous event. This indicates, as [20] has pointed out, that investments in human capital has the highest payoff. Residents can be made aware of landslides problems and take action to address them. Solu- tions and implementation plans largely crafted by the resi- dents work the best. However, outside technical assistance is often needed to find technically sound solutions. In the case of Penang’s Program for Landslide Control the solutions were largely determined by the government. However, the residents understood the issues and believed that they could and should do something about them. Hence, the aim of this research is to identify the level of knowledge and awareness aspects among the residents to prevent further landslide and environmental damages occur in the long term plans and to collect informa- tion helpful in enhancing residents’ knowledge and awareness about the landslide hazards in Penang Island, Malaysia.
The present study is attempt to examine the landslide aware- ness of residents in six districts of Penang Island in Malaysia according to residence, gender, age, occupation, race, marital status, monthly salary income and educational background. The research was a guided close-ended questionnaire type of study utilizing survey method. Six districts in Penang Island (one of the 13 states in Malaysia) were randomly selected for the study. Six districts were chosen randomly from northeast (3 districts) and southwest (3 districts). These areas are oftenly exposed to landslides and also exposed to soil erosion. The sample size of the study was between 10 to 15 people random- ly selected for each area from the total of 60 people. A return rate of 100% was obtained. Prior to data collection, permission was sought from the residents of their homes. Chi Square Test- test was employed to find out the significance of difference between the level of knowledge and awareness among the residents in the selected areas. SPSS was used for the analysis the data. Landslide awareness refers to the knowledge and awareness of residents holds towards the landslide hazards. It which consisted two dimensions ranging from knowledge and awareness to landslide disasters. There were three parts, firstly about residents’ background. The second part contained 15 questions with two choices ‘A’ and ‘B’ for each were given. The last part of the questionnaire measured the awareness level of landslide issues, which contained 50 questions. The questions consisted of general awareness of landslide hazards with the response format of a five points Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to distrongly agree (1). Each question is giv-
en a choice of (1) most not agreed (2) not agreed (3) less agreed (4) agreed (5) most agreed to the questions asked. Specifically, 60 residents completed the guided questionnaires. Resident feedback in response to the questionnaire is quite good, but only a few residents that are less proficient in the Malay language, the researcher had to explain about the con- tents of the questionnaire before they answer the question- naire easily without any doubt.
Chi-Square Test was used to compare the frequencies of knowledge and awareness scores of from different demography background of selected divisions in two districts (southwest and northeast) of Penang Island. There were six areas selected for the sample chi square test, Teluk Bahang, Batu Ferringhi, Bukit Bendera, Bukit Gambir, Paya Terubong and Balik Pulau. Figure 1 shows the study areas of researcher. Researcher study the landslide awareness of the residents which consisting of housewife and the retired. 60 people in- volved in this study, comprising 10 people from each area. Based on the measurement formula chi square test analysis found a significant relationship between the questions of the level of awareness of surveyed residents about the dangers of landslides. Figure 1 shows the study locations of researcher.
Figure 1 Study Areas
Penang Island Map
65% residents agree to live in the hills for it is comfortable atmosphere compared to 35% them disagree. This indicates
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that residents agree to live in the hills are more than the people whom dislike living on hills. This shows that the resi- dents are less aware about the dangers of landslides because they are not concerned with the threat of landslides hitting them at present. 85% residents agree the problem of landslides caused by heavy rains and 93.3% of them agree the main caus- es of landslides is due to human activities that damage the environment whereas 85% of them do not agree to cut trees along the hillsides. This shows that the residents has a high awareness of landslides as they understand the importance of planting trees along the slopes to prevent landslide. 80% resi- dents blame the government for the landslide occurrences whereas 83.3% of them stated that there is no landslide pro- grams organized by state governments to handle landslides, while 83.3% of them agree that they do not have a place much safer to be protected from the event of a landslide threat. This reflects that residents have a high awareness of the disaster as they realize that the state government has a greater role in managing projects in hills, especially in areas related to social and economic development. Residents also aware that lack of landslide programs and shelter have made them to take se- rious view of the landslide disaster.
91.7% residents agree that all the residents who live in the hills need to buy insurance for property damage or loss of life in landslides and 93.3% of them agree the state government is fully responsible for the landslide occurrences, while 78.3% residents state that self awareness is very important after fac- ing the threat of landslides. This shows that residents have a high awareness of the disaster as they are more aware of in- surance which is a tool compensation for self protection and property. Residents also aware that government itself should play an active role to address landslides and in protecting the people and the environment. 91.7% residents agree to impri- son anyone who violates the laws or the hill land policy with- out binding or withdraw permits construction on hill land. This reflects that residents have a high awareness of landslides and their rights in exploring the hill land. 55% of them agree the government does not require higher spending to restore the landslide occurrences and this reflects the residents have a low awareness of landslides as they are less vulnerable to sta- tistical state government spending in the recovery operation to the usual disaster affected by landslides. 61.7% residents agree with the government’s preparation in handling the landslide problem compare to the balance percentage of residents whom are not sure or do not know about the preparedness of government in addressing disaster in this island. This reflects residents are still lack of awareness about the dangers of landslides.
90% residents agree the landslides only occur at high alti- tudes only. This indicates that the residents have a highly aware of the landslide as they understand the zonal areas of landslides in the state and 68.3% of them do not agree that landslides will occur in the years to come. This implies that the residents are less aware of landslides as they could not deter- mine whether landslides will occur in the future, as many of the hills have been explored and have experienced the effects of the disaster. 83.3% residents were still interested in buying a house on the hill although they knew of the dangers of
landslides. This reflects that residents are still not aware of landslide even though they have much heard and read in the media about the threat of landslides in some areas in Malay- sia. 68.3% of total residents agree that landslides occurred slowly, and this shows they are still less aware and less ex- posed to the processes of the landslide which occurred in the state. 83.3% residents afraid and concerned about the threat of landslides and do not want to live in the areas showing signs of landslides and this shows they are aware of landslide whe- reas 80% of them agreed that every houses in the high lands of need to install the siren landslide. This shows residents have high awareness of landslides as they are wary of the disasters and demonstrate a precautionary attitude to the future in an effort to distance themselves from the disaster. 93.3% residents agree the construction engineers must be efficient and compe- tent in the selection of housing areas to avoid the threat of landslides in the future and this indicates the residents have a high awareness of disaster as they understand the talent should be skilled in various areas of strategic and able to find solutions to various problems through innovative thinking.
56.7% of them agreed the safety of landslides in Penang is not dangerous. This shows the residents are less aware of this dis- aster in which is the main center of this disaster after the Se- langor.
78.3% residents agree never to feel the impact of landslides and reflects that awareness of the residents are low since they have never experienced such disasters as likely to stay away from the disaster area or less to know about the disaster that has nothing to do with themselves whereas 50% of them had felt the effects of landslides and indicates they have a high awareness of disaster as they had experienced such cata- strophic events. 91.7% residents agree every event which felt weird or strange about the landslide will be reported to au- thorities as soon as possible, and 65% of them agree to plant a variety of trees along the hill slopes, while 93.3% of them agree the government should gazette the hill lands reserves. This reflects the residents have a high awareness of landslide disas- ter due to stay alert for strange happenings around them and realize the importance of planting the trees along the hill slopes to prevent soil particles falling from high to flat land and gazette the hill areas to explore arbitrarily due to concrete development. 63.3% residents agree and interested in buying a property on the hill after seeing the devastating landslide in the hills and 81.7% of them agree they had never heard of a landslide awareness program in any area in Malaysia, while
68.3% residents agree the government's plan will effectively prevent landslides in the years to come. Residents are still lack of awareness about the disaster as they were not exposed to it and not sure of the effectiveness of government programs in the future.
58.3% of them love to work with anyone in efforts to re- duce landslides and 85% of them agree the policy of high land in Malaysia is made to suit the interests of superiors without thinking of the public interest, while 91.7 % of them agree to seek a further more and secure place to live on when aware of the warning signs of landslides in the areas where they live. This indicates the awareness of residents about the landslides is high because they have a higher responsibility, less selfish,
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have a high knowledge of the highland policy implementation in Penang. 93.3% residents agree to plant trees at the foot of the hill to avoid the threat of landslides and realize the impor- tance of roots to avoid the clutches of the disaster. This implies the high aware of the residents on landslide whereas 56.7% of them agree not to believe in the predictions of landslide disas- ter. This reflects that residents have low awareness of the dis- aster as due to lack trust to the prediction of natural disasters that can help people get ready if there are signs of landslides in their areas. 83.3% residents agree there are strange sounds heard before the occurrence of landslides and this shows the residents have a force high enough stimulus to recognize a sign or effect of landslides that occurred in the vicinity of his residence.76.7% residents agree the rapid technological ad- vancements make people more aware, efficient and intelligent in carrying out responsibilities for environment and this indi- cates their low awareness of the disaster as more days landslide occurred in tandem with the increase in human and modern technology that almost destroyed the beautiful envi- ronment and harmony, particularly in the hills to meet the appetite or desire of humans with no limits.
90% of the residents agree rapid advances in technology make people careless and negligent in discharging their re- sponsibilities towards the environment. This reflects the awareness of people about the disaster is high as the residents were beginning to feel the cause of the landslide in the world which caused by human greediness and indifference to ex- plore the land for various purposes till the lost of thousands of innocent lives and destruction of property valued at and the government had to issue millions of dollars for the restoration of the normal environmental conditions. Although we have reached millennium era, but landslides continue to happen till man cannot find a point solution to prevent the occurrences of landslides due to greed of man himself in the process of ex- ploring the beautiful environment created by God.
Analysis of the resident awareness about landslide disaster issues indicated that, they rated their awareness at the ‘have some awareness’ level with an average score of 63% out of
100%, which is a reasonable result for residents. Some aware- ness gaps were identified however, particularly in the resident awareness responsibility for environmental damage, stern action should be imposed for that invade the hills, to preserve the hills for future generation for which the average resident scores were in the level of ‘have some awareness’. This finding underscores that residents have insufficient awareness about the importance of plants on the hill and along the slopes. Res- idents are moderately knowledgeable, however, in some landslide issues including hill cutting for development and greed for profit. In fact, landslide problems are among the most urgent problems in Penang for which all researchers are trying to find long-term solutions. The analysis of the relation- ship between resident background and awareness levels did suggest a significant difference. Resident with high education realized that planting trees on hills are important to prevent landslide compare to those suggest to build many buildings
on the hills. Considering the average rating scores of residents for landslide issues, they were rather low in comparison to their knowledge level of landslide issues which corresponded to the level ‘the state government should be firm in encapsu- lates high land policies for the welfare and safety of people around’. These result, indicate that not enough of landslide knowledge among the residents and that setting up links be- tween the environmental and landslide disaster awareness in public practices have failed and indeed, these give us clues regarding the directions for future research in this context. There is low awareness of residents of landslides where they do not support the issue of 'landslides can disrupt the daily activities of the people’, but their awareness level was the lowest for the issue of ‘engineers have an efficient and compe- tent construction in the selection of the construction areas to avoid the threat of landslides in future’. This showed that res- idents have low knowledge on landslide disaster.
Penang has no record of systematic landslide occurrences for reference in future. So, it is recommended that a accurate and systematic records of landslides should be provided by certain parties for future researchers. There was no statistical difference between gender and the rating scores of residents with respect to their awareness level about landslide issues. As for resident responses to the multiple-choice, more than
68% of the residents correctly answered the question about the definition of landslide, and their average rating score about their knowledge of the definition of landslide was 65%, which corresponded to ‘highland areas shall be maintained to pre- vent encroachment by unscrupulous people’. This result does not represent an inconsistency because in a multiple-choice format, they could have easily recognized the definition by glancing at the choices. The resident response to the second multiple-choice question about the main components of landslide revealed their insufficient knowledge of these issues, as only slightly more than 53% of the residents identified the correct answer. The responses of the residents regarding their attendance to any landslide activity and previous programs on landslide were quite encouraging in the sense that, only 20% residents out of 60 stated that they had experienced any occur- rence regarding landslide and only 40% residents indicated that they do not experienced landslide. This result strongly supports the hypothesis that landslide awareness is not yet extended among residents in this state.
The analysis of the statements section, which was designed to investigate resident opinions on the importance of the need for and knowledge of landslide, suggested that residents had positive attitudes towards landslide, its importance and its place in programs even though they had insufficient educa- tional background and knowledge levels in landslide. Results also indicated that, the vast majority of residents believed that the landslide concept was important for the present and fu- ture, it was of interest to all of residents and more emphasis should be placed on landslide at all levels awareness. They also thought that there was something they could have done to promote landslide awareness programs. This finding sug- gests that residents were ready to take action for landslide even residents willing to act in addressing the problem of landslides in this country by working with all levels of society.
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Then, this study revealed that the residents surveyed had sig- nificant awareness gaps in landslide issues and were facing urgent problems regarding their educational background in landslide, despite having a reasonable background in landslide issues in general. Finally, the study has shown that almost all residents in Penang believe that the research aware- ness of landslides is very important to prevent the recurrence.
The author(s) would like to thank the Municipalities of Penang island and the private companies for their moral supports and the cooperation of all residents who are directly involved in the study.
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