Understanding Disaster Risk Profiles in Thailand
As highlighted in the Bangkok Post article, “More must be done to fight climate change“, Thailand faces significant challenges from various natural disasters. This analysis presents a national risk assessment mapping to help identify priority areas for disaster management.
Historical Disaster Impact Analysis
Table 1 Disaster data in Thailand
The EM-DAT database analysis covers disasters from 1900 to 2014. Notably, the most severe impacts—measuring deaths, affected populations, and economic damage—have occurred primarily since the 1970s. Two catastrophic events stand out in Thailand’s disaster history:
These events have dramatically shaped Thailand’s approach to disaster risk management.
Risk Assessment Mapping Framework
Figure 1 National Risk Assessment Mapping in Thailand
The above visualization presents Thailand’s risk assessment map created using EM-DAT data spanning 1900-2014. This frequency-impact analysis by damage type offers a straightforward yet comprehensive overview of Thailand’s disaster risk landscape.
Risk Evaluation Matrices
To properly contextualize these risks, we employ two complementary evaluation matrices:
Figure 2 Risk matrix options (1)
Figure 3 Risk matrix options (2)
Key Findings and Priorities
The risk assessment mapping (Figure 1) clearly identifies flooding as Thailand’s most critical disaster risk requiring immediate attention and resources. According to the evaluation matrices shown in Figures 2 and 3, flood events necessitate:
- Extensive management systems
- Comprehensive monitoring networks
- Immediate action planning and implementation
This preliminary analysis serves as a foundation for more detailed research. A report for the conference (Conference: 13th International Conference on Thai Studies) has published a more comprehensive examination of these findings.
Additional Resources
For more information on disaster risk reduction in Southeast Asia, visit the natural hazards research journal (open access) .