Officials get pat on the back for tropical storm response

• Published date: 07 January 2019
• Publication title: The Nation - Thailand

Experts say timely effort mitigated impact but call for improvement in disaster preparations amid looming challenges.

AUTHORITIES and the public sector have won praise from experts for their role in disaster prevention and management during tropical storm Pabuk, which academics say minimised casualties and damage. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department reported yesterday that three people had been killed by the impact of the intense storm that buffeted Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani, while one person was still missing.The department's director-general, Chayabol Thitisak, yesterday said that 18 provinces in the southern region and along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand had suffered damage from the storm, strong winds and flash floods brought by the heavy downpour.

The 18 affected provinces are: Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Surat Thani, Songkhla, Narathiwat, Chumphon, Trang, Phatthalung, Ranong, Krabi, Yala, Phetchaburi, Chanthaburi, Trat, Rayong, Samut Sakhon, and Samut Songkhram. Chayabol said due to the severity of the storm that hit Thailand on Thursday, some 213,000 families, or some 696,000 people, had been affected, while 2,240 were still displaced and had to stay at the remaining 24 evacuation centres in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chumphon. Though the storm left Thailand on Saturday, some areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Chumphon were still flooded, causing train services between Khao Chumthong Station and Nakhon Si Thammarat Station to remain suspended, and also contributing to another death from drowning at Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday morning. The Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce estimated that tropical storm Pabuk had caused up to Bt5 billion in economic damage. The storm led to suspension of operations at airports in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani, and of sea transport in both the Gulf and Andaman Sea, and severely disrupted the tourism industry in the South in its high season. Seri Supharatid, director of Rangsit...