Rapid Assessment for Resilient Recovery and ... - GFDRR

It is never too late to distribute risk assessment information – dovetailing an immediate
post-flood drive to build-back-better-and-safer and sharing risk assessment information
through a public awareness campaign would ensure the recovery and reconstruction
process can reduce vulnerability to future risks.
Early warning communication In the case of the 2011 floods, despite the constraints of
existing forecasting tools and the associated limitations on authorities’ ability to predict
flood behavior, early warning information was issued in a timely manner. That said, conflicting
information from different government bodies responsible for varying areas of flood
information management resulted in a lack of clarity on the part of the public.
Emergency management and coordination A number of national disaster response
committees were set up, on an ad-hoc basis, in response to the changing and evolving
flood situation. These include the Emergency Operation Center for Floods, Storms, and
Landslides (EOC), set up on 22 August, and the Flood Relief Operation Center (FROC),
set up on 21 October. Though in-line with protocol outlined in the NDPMA, establishing
FROC was not an adequate response to addressing the emergency. Roles and responsibilities
were blurred, which caused confusion. However, such ad hoc approaches are
not uncommon in emergency situations, and this is seen in other countries as well. This
reflects the need to review DRM plans, take a less rigid approach that can respond to
different disasters, types and scales, and avoid the one-size fits all model.
Coordinated emergency preparedness Emergency and disaster management
mechanisms are largely based on local needs and plans and rely on provincial and local
administrative structures. This arrangement brings local knowledge and understanding of
needs, but during the flood the lack of coordination on flood prevention and management
planning across administrative areas was notable. This led to conflict within and between
communities that border different administrative zones.
Disaster response versus preparedness Field teams found that DRM plans often
focused on emergency response, awarding little focus preparedness and prevention.
Urban vulnerability While flooding in rural areas and urban riverfront settlements is a
regular occurrence, many urban and sub-urban areas have not experienced flooding for
more than 10–15 years. Spatial dynamics of urban areas such as high-density settlements
combined with this lack of experience has resulted in lower resilience and adaptive capacity
of urban communities as compared to their rural counterparts. Many sub-district, district,
and provincial administrators expressed concerns over effectiveness of city planning and
land use enforcement in the context, as well as the dearth of guidance on how to effectively
plan and prepare for disasters in urban areas. That said, good DRM practice was noted
amongst some NGOs working in poor, urban communities, including the Community
Organizations Development Institute (CODI), the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights
(ACHR) and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s conflict management and coordination
experiences.
246 THAI FLOOD 2011 RAPID ASSESSMENT FOR RESILIENT RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING