Natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said the department would also work to increase its weather forecast accuracy from 82% to 85% to improve the country’s early warning systems (EWS).

“To ensure readiness, MetMalaysia operates its early warning systems 24/7, coordinating with disaster management agencies at both the federal and state levels,” Bernama reported him as saying in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The minister was responding to a question from Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu) on the EWS’s timeliness in delivering alerts, particularly in rural areas.

Kurup said the government had allocated RM242 million to upgrade the weather warning system, including new radar and forecasting projects, and RM18 million under the 13th Malaysia Plan to develop the national tsunami EWS.

He said MetMalaysia had also enhanced its weather forecasting with its radar-integrated nowcasting system, which provides near-real-time rainfall predictions.

“The numerical weather prediction system has been improved with high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, enabling more accurate forecasts up to 14 days ahead with higher resolution,” he said.