Recently, NESDB and the Faculty of Natural Resources, Prince of Songkla University jointly set up a seminar on "Disaster management : Information and Planing" at the auditorium of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. Bangkok.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Pairoj Suchinda, Deputy NESDB Secretary-General, as chairman of the seminar, delivered a briefing on "Disaster Management", saying that disaster management did not sound familiar for most of the Thai people. Systematic management was absent, even among relevant agencies who seemed to focus mainly on their routine jobs, rather than effective preparedness planing. Hence, people's life and property are affected badly whenever natural disasters arise.
When a natural disaster occurred, an ad-hoc committee was set up to manage the crisis, and there was no continual operation thereafter. Relevant agencies, on the other hand, ignored a planned and practical management to cope with natural disasters. They were preoccupied with the need for equipment procurement, while the existing action plans were not used properly in emergency cases, due to the lack of common understanding and the most important factor disaster protection exercises.
Preparedness of all parties in terms of prevention and alleviation would be the best option to deal with disasters, said Mr. Pairoj. Through this idea, the office of NESDB, in cooperation with the Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Environment, requested financial assistance of UNDP to conduct a study project, entitled "Disaster Management in Southern Thailand". It was aimed primarily at searching an appropriate system for disaster management, starting from the south which is prone to natural disasters.
Later, Dr. Charnchai Thanawat, lecturer of the Faculty of Natural Resources, Prince of Songkhla University, presented feasibility study results on the above topic. Three major objectives of the study were to indicate risk-prone areas, to assess risks, and to suggest proventive and remedial measures. The risk-prone map at a regional level was conducted, under the ratio of 1:250,000, to indicate 14 southern provinces and Prachuab Khiri Khan Province, prone to flood, land subsidence and soil erosion. Only three types of natural disaster were taken into account due to the short study time-frame of only 15 months.
The study suggested 5 preventive measures, namely :
1) Dam construction, improvement of water channels and rehabilition of catchment forest.
2) Demarcation of land-use zone.
3) Improvement of the alarm system.
4) Demarcation of residential and industrial zones.
5) Promotion of preparedness planning among the public.
Other recommendations were to conduct the risk-prone map in every region, to indicate areas prone to other natural disasters not included in this study, and to encourage relevant agencies to provide funding for research on disaster prevention.
Recommendations, raised by participants, were, such as (1) to further study the alarm system and effective action plan, (2) to create common understanding of people in risk-prone areas, (3) to establish responsible agency to handle disaster management, and (4) to focus on the environmental-friendly development scheme.
--Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 12, No.8: August 1997--
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Pairoj Suchinda, Deputy NESDB Secretary-General, as chairman of the seminar, delivered a briefing on "Disaster Management", saying that disaster management did not sound familiar for most of the Thai people. Systematic management was absent, even among relevant agencies who seemed to focus mainly on their routine jobs, rather than effective preparedness planing. Hence, people's life and property are affected badly whenever natural disasters arise.
When a natural disaster occurred, an ad-hoc committee was set up to manage the crisis, and there was no continual operation thereafter. Relevant agencies, on the other hand, ignored a planned and practical management to cope with natural disasters. They were preoccupied with the need for equipment procurement, while the existing action plans were not used properly in emergency cases, due to the lack of common understanding and the most important factor disaster protection exercises.
Preparedness of all parties in terms of prevention and alleviation would be the best option to deal with disasters, said Mr. Pairoj. Through this idea, the office of NESDB, in cooperation with the Ministry of Sciences, Technology and Environment, requested financial assistance of UNDP to conduct a study project, entitled "Disaster Management in Southern Thailand". It was aimed primarily at searching an appropriate system for disaster management, starting from the south which is prone to natural disasters.
Later, Dr. Charnchai Thanawat, lecturer of the Faculty of Natural Resources, Prince of Songkhla University, presented feasibility study results on the above topic. Three major objectives of the study were to indicate risk-prone areas, to assess risks, and to suggest proventive and remedial measures. The risk-prone map at a regional level was conducted, under the ratio of 1:250,000, to indicate 14 southern provinces and Prachuab Khiri Khan Province, prone to flood, land subsidence and soil erosion. Only three types of natural disaster were taken into account due to the short study time-frame of only 15 months.
The study suggested 5 preventive measures, namely :
1) Dam construction, improvement of water channels and rehabilition of catchment forest.
2) Demarcation of land-use zone.
3) Improvement of the alarm system.
4) Demarcation of residential and industrial zones.
5) Promotion of preparedness planning among the public.
Other recommendations were to conduct the risk-prone map in every region, to indicate areas prone to other natural disasters not included in this study, and to encourage relevant agencies to provide funding for research on disaster prevention.
Recommendations, raised by participants, were, such as (1) to further study the alarm system and effective action plan, (2) to create common understanding of people in risk-prone areas, (3) to establish responsible agency to handle disaster management, and (4) to focus on the environmental-friendly development scheme.
--Development News Bulletin, National Economic and Social Development Board, Volume 12, No.8: August 1997--