Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

Housing Sector
Summary
The 2011 flooding brought impacts beyond anyone’s anticipation, both in quantity as well
as in timing. While for agriculture this meant total loss of harvests, in the area of housing
the relatively slow rise of the water gave most families time to move their valuables to a
safer place.
Damage was mainly to household goods, estimated at about THB 38 billion worth, and
less to structures, which amounted to about THB 7.8 billion. In addition, losses grew to
large proportions due to the long period of evacuation – in some cases over three months
– amounting to almost THB 36 billion, borne primarily by host families, government agencies,
private sector entities and other donors; aside from these, the education sector contributed
another THB 1.7 billion for this (see Education section). Cleaning of properties and
goods cost roughly THB 1.97 billion, but at the same time may have provided about THB
0.99 billion in paid labor (approximately 60 percent of labor was voluntary).
Most people were more concerned about their livelihoods (especially in rural and industrial
park areas) and household goods. There was not much damage found among the house
buildings themselves. However, while not much repair can be done, the quality of timber
structures will have depreciated significantly.
Damage and Losses
It is to be noted that the damage and loss assessment is a rough estimate, using a series
of assumptions that are extrapolated over the focus area, for the purpose of developing
policies and programs that will cover the relevant sectors, and allocating budgets. The
actual figures on damage and losses should come from field inspections and reports that
can be verified by the public.
Process of Assessment
The Rapid Assessment team benefitted from great collaboration with national and local
agencies, including the translation of many references. However, as assessments were
ongoing at provincial level, a large part of the data was not yet available that could have
been used for cross-checking.
The extent of damage was estimated from the number of houses that likely became inundated,
established by an analysis of flood maps. To arrive at a more representative figure
of the cost of damage to buildings – rather than applying an across-the-board generalization
– the costing was disaggregated by types of housing, construction materials used, and
number of floors that are typical to different income brackets. For lack of data, this exercise
uses the same proportion of building types across the provinces, although some parts are
rural and others are more urban. Using secondary data and interview results, estimates
were done on the approximate value of household goods. Preliminary local data of the
visited provinces were used to verify the damage and losses estimates, which were then
extrapolated into total provincial figures. Annex 14 provides a list of assumptions used
152 THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING