WATER-RELATED DISASTERS IN THAILAND FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE WATER SECURITY INDEX.

Abstract

Globally, disasters, i.e. droughts, floods, storm surges, earthquakes, and tsunamis, are a concern because they create enormous damages to countries. Again globally, the issues of disaster risks have been surveyed by many organizations. For example, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the Water Security Index (WSI), University Bochum, the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) presented the WorldRiskIndex 2019, and Germanwatch developed the Global Climate Risk Index (CRI). This paper discussed the Water-Related Disasters Index (KD 5) of Thailand, which is one of the Water Security Indexes of the ADB. The KD 5 is composed of (1) floods and windstorms, (2) droughts, and (3) storm surges and coastal floods. The objectives of the present paper were to analyse the water-related disasters in Thailand from the perspective of the Water Security Index. Thailand’s the water-related disasters score of is 10.6 out of 20. Although the disaster risk in Thailand is not at the critical level compared to other countries worldwide, overall it can be seen that Thailand has moderate capability to manage risks. The Thai government has a large amount of data and information for protecting the disasters, but related institutions are lack of good management. This results in high economic losses from disasters and leads to decreases in the growth rate of the Thai economy.