Critical Facility Experiences and the Lesson Learnt From 2011 Flood Disaster in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand

Abstract

In disaster management, critical facility plays a vital role in providing services and functions essential to community for minimizing damages and losses from disaster. Critical facilities include government offices, schools, hospital and place of worship. These facilities should be given special consideration when formulating disaster management plan. This research aims to determine critical facility damages and recovery from 2011 flood experiences in Bang Pa-in district, Ayutthaya, and identify the gaps for facilities in developing potential supports to flood prone communities. Narrative analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews conducted with key personnel from 34 critical facilities. The flood caused damages to public facility, assets, and impact on environmental health and food security. Recovery and reconstruction ranged from one week to six months. Facilities indicated that teamwork, cooperation and support from stakeholders led to prompt recovery. However, recovery was delayed due to budget, equipment and personnel limitations. Most facilities respond effectively and communicate with staff during flood. Nevertheless, many facilities should apply measures and communicate instruction to victims more beneficially. Moreover, flood-related data were not available for most of the facilities. Therefore, they need more accurate information on water level, weather forecast, warnings, shelter locations and key assisting persons. This research highlights the demand from facilities which concern immediate response, authoritative data, and effective communication and monitoring system. Strategies to improve the capability of critical facilities were discussed. Findings underscore flood experiences, responses, and reflections from critical facility that contribute to developing effective guideline for disaster management plan in flood prone community.



Author Information
Chutaporn Amrapala, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Tadashi Nakasu, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Paper Information
Conference: ACSS2024
Stream: Sustainability

This paper is part of the ACSS2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Amrapala C., & Nakasu T. (2024) Critical Facility Experiences and the Lesson Learnt From 2011 Flood Disaster in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand ISSN: 2186-2303 – The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 119-127) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2024.11
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-2303.2024.11


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon