Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

capacity building. The first “R” is response (during the flood), which includes mobile health
units, outreach teams, mental health assessment, and one-stop service call center (which
provide health-related as well as other services). The second “R” is recovery (immediately
after the flood), which includes damage surveys, repairing health facilities, mental health
assessment, and improving the quality of drinking water and tap water. The second “P” is
prevention (long-term), which includes assessing lessons learned and surveying health
facilities which are at a high risk of flooding, and make necessary structural preventions.
It should also be noted that the UC system significantly increases the resilience of
Thailand’s health system to disaster situations. The system contributed to continuity of
care in many cases because patients are allowed to move or are referred easily, and
budget follows the patients. The UC’s provider payment mechanism also helped reduce
the amount of revenue losses in public sector health facilities.
Some hospitals that were directly affected by severe floods benefited from having hospital
disaster response plans in place, such as fire evacuation plans. This helped their responses
in the time of electrical shutdown and increased the effectiveness of patient triage and
transfers when actual evacuation was needed. However, these hospitals also raised the
issue that the existing disaster response plans generally underestimate the actual difficulty
faced in times of crisis, as logistics and basic infrastructure could be severely damaged in
major disasters such as the current flood.
Recommendations for Resilient Recovery and Reconstruction
Thailand’s health sector has shown considerable resilience during the flood disaster this
year. This is evident in its successful efforts to deliver uninterrupted health services seven
days a week, timely ambulance and emergency transport services (including the use of
helicopters to transport patients in critical conditions), timely establishment of temporary
health and mobile health units, hotline number and one-stop service call center, during and
following the flood disaster. However, some areas are more resilient than others, and there
is still room for many local areas to increase resilience, and to follow some of the good
practices. A valid example is the “Bangrakam model” in Phitsanulok. This local initiative of
“2R 2P” to respond to flood disaster has been hailed by the government as an example of
best practice, and other provinces in the flood-prone areas were encouraged to follow suit.
Outlined below are additional strategies for short-term, medium-term, and long-term recovery
and reconstruction, applying the concept of “build-back-better”. Some of the strategies may
have already been applied by some local areas, but they are worthwhile to be documented
and used as public good.
146 THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING