Search

Rip currents are one of the coastal hazards that put Malaysian beachgoers in a risky position. Most of the drowning accidents that occur at beaches worldwide are closely associated with this phenomenon. Research on rip currents is needed to build an effective measuring tool to overcome these issues. However, to date, research on rip currents is mainly focused on its physical aspects, commonly concentrating on the processes that influence and relate to the rips’ generation. As an effort to minimize the negative consequences exerted by the rips, there is an urgent need to enhance the rip-related research in the social sciences field. Comprehensive research that includes all fields might produce more beneficial and reliable information. Therefore, this study intends to examine the level of public understanding of rip currents and beach safety knowledge of the Teluk Cempedak Beach. A questionnaire comprising 5 sections and 31 questions was developed as the primary tool in this study. A total of 60 beachgoers have been surveyed for this preliminary study through a questionnaire to investigate their demographic profile, frequency of visiting the beach, swimming ability, and their knowledge of rip currents and beach safety. The results show that the beachgoers have poor knowledge of rip currents. Conversely, they are observed to have higher beach safety knowledge. Also, the findings help in filling the research gaps of this study in terms of the instrument used for the data collection procedure. Above all, an extension of this study may contribute to the development of beneficial tools in assessing public knowledge on beach safety and rip currents throughout Malaysian beaches. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s11069-021-04613-z).

A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the public understanding of rips currents at Teluk Cempedak Recreational Beach of Pahang, Malaysia, from November 2020 to March 2021 via a questionnaire survey. Convenient sampling was used to collect data from 300 respondents. The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions, encompassing five sections, i.e., the demographic background, frequency of visiting the beach, swimming ability, their knowledge of rip currents, and understanding of beach safety. Associations between the study variables and the knowledge of both rip currents and beach safety were evaluated using the independent sample t-test, Chi-square test, and multiple logistic regressions at the confidence level of 0.05. In general, only 86% of the respondent knew about the rip currents. For beach safety knowledge, 83% of the respondents on the lifeguard facilities, 44% for the yellow red-flag and 93.7% for the red flag. Variables such as gender (knowledge of rip currents: Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 0.647, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.487 - 0.60, p = 0.003; beach safety: AOR = 0.665, 95% CI = 1.14 - 5.02, p = 0.021), locality (knowledge of rip currents: AOR = 2.482, 95% CI = 1.407 - 4.380, p = 0.002, beach safety: AOR = 1.821, 95% CI = 1.022 - 3.245, p = 0.042), and respondents’ experience of having problems in water activities (knowledge of rip currents: AOR = 0.170, 95% CI = 0.635 - 6.379, p = 0.000) were significantly associated with the knowledge of both rip currents and beach safety. Further studies are essential to enhance public understanding of rip currents and hence the beach safety in Malaysia.

This study investigated the accumulation of debris at four sites, namely, Gebeng, Batu Hitam, Cherok Paloh, and Air Leleh, along the Pahang coastline, Peninsular Malaysia from March 2019 to February 2020. Plastic was the dominant debris (86.1%) and followed by cloth/fabric-based debris (6.0%), processed lumber debris (3.3%), rubber (2.7%), glass (1.5%), and metal (0.4%). The land-based debris (82.0%) was the major source of the deposition of marine waste. A statistically significant relationship was found between the seasonal variation and marine debris density in tidal and seasonal current along the Pahang coastline. In general, the Northeast Monsoon season had a higher amount of debris than the Southwest Monsoon season.