It said based on the data from the mineral and geoscience department (JMG), there are 5,563 tube wells nationwide to cope with the effects of the dry season.

According to Nadma, through the coordination meeting for hot and dry weather held today, JMG was instructed to map out or match the location of tube wells with hotspot areas to ensure disaster management can be implemented more effectively.

“The southwest monsoon that began on May 14 is causing winds from the southwest. Malaysia will experience less rain, especially in the peninsula and Sarawak and this could cause haze if there is uncontrolled open burning,” according to the statement.

The meeting agreed that the Malaysian meteorological department (MetMalaysia) will be responsible for delivering rainless day notifications for at least seven consecutive days to the department of environment (DoE) and related agencies as well as issuing advice if there are signs of cross-border haze.

Apart from that, drought monitoring will be done by the department of irrigation and drainage (DID) on a weekly and monthly basis through the national water balance management system operations centre.

“The overall analysis for rainfall over a three-month period showed the whole of peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak received above-normal rainfall.

“Only a few places showed moderately dry conditions such as Serian and Sri Aman, Sarawak and a small part of areas in Johor and Melaka.

“The whole of Terengganu and some areas in Kelantan and Pahang recorded the highest rainfall for the current three months compared to the long-term mean cumulative rainfall,” according to the statement.