Flood News Consumption, Warning Systems, and Flood Management During Flood Crises Outside The Bangkok Municipatory Area

Abstract

The Objectives of this research are 1) to study the consumption of flood news/information, by flood victims, from media and government officers 2) to study the government implementation of the flood warning system 3) to study a case of flood mitigation by a local government.  The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods.  Quantitative data involved a questionaire survey of 1994 flood victims in Saraburi, and Ang thong provinces, conducted via accidental sampling of 171 persons.  For qualitative data, interviews of government officers both at the central and local levels were conducted using purposive sampling.

          The results showed that people in flood areas received flood news from television at the highest rate, followed by newspaper internet and radio repectively.  Flood news/information from local government officers at the Subdistrict Municipality or Sub-district Administration Organization were ranked the highest, followed by villege head, District Chief, Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Provincial Administrative Organization, police, and SMS respectively.  The information being distributed was sent from the Royal Irrigation Department, provincial, and district office.

          In the central government’s implementation of flood warning, the Royal Irrigation Department is responsible for surveying the level of water in the dam.  The Department of Meteorology forcasts the rainfall.  After analysis and forcast, information is sent to all local areas.  At the provincial level, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and local government organizations play important roles in distributing the flood news/information.          The recommendation of the study is to connect all implementing agencies to form a network both at the central and local levels, both within and among provinces, e.g., Department of Meteorology, Department of Water Resources, National Disaster Warning Center, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, along with the local Provincial Administrative Organization, Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Municipalities, and districts, for the purpose of cooperating on flood warnings and mitigation by exchanging resources and data.