Large scale disaster management : Lessons Learnt from Flood Response in the South in 2017

Abstract

Abstract

Flood in the South during December 2016 to January 2017 has been recognized as one of the most severe events ever hit Thailand since the mega flood in 2011. The major cause of this flood is weather variations, that leads to continued heavy rainfalls over the areas. In addition to this, due to mountainous nature of the central part of the South, highways along the ridge are in turn obstructs the water discharge from mountains to the sea. Buildings in this area also makes flood waters drainage more difficult.  These have triggered flash flood, river overflows and severe inundation in many areas where a lot of people's lives were lost and disrupted.

The government has decided to level up its emergency management from level 2 where Governor is the incident commander to the level 3 management where Interior Minister is Incident Commander. At this stage, National Emergency Operation Headquarter is activated and based at Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Two front offices are also activated and based in Suratthani province and Songkhla province. These offices are designated for area command to provide support on coordination and resource mobilization to ensure timely response. Fourteen emergency support functions (ESF) are also activated to better and more effectively tackle the flood. This is the first time where activation of level 3 emergency management has been taking place since the endorsement of National Disaster Risk Management Plan in 2015. This current flooding also serves as a testing to assess whether our emergency management are performed in accordance to
the National Plan, and if any challenges or lessons learnt should be considered to help improving the Plan and our preparedness for future large scale disaster. These have triggered flash flood, river overflows and severe inundation in many areas where
a lot of people's lives were lost and disrupted.