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. Flood recovery period ranged from one week to six months. Facilities indicated that teamwork, cooperation and support from stakeholders lead 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.

Authors:
Chutaporn Amrapala, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Tadashi Nakasu, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

About the Presenter(s)
Dr.Chutaporn Amrapala is currently a lecturer at College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and a researcher of "Regional Resilience Enhancement through Area-BCM at Industry Complex in Thailand" project, the community research.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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