Thailand

Following devastating floods in the fall of 2011, USAID/OFDA provided boats and motors to help the Government of Thailand deliver aid to people in need.

Al Dwyer/USAID

Between late July and October 2011, several tropical storms and heavy monsoon rains resulted in widespread flooding and landslides in 60 of Thailand’s 76 provinces, particularly affecting 28 provinces in northern, northeastern, and central Thailand. As of November 8, the floods had resulted in 527 deaths, affected approximately 2.9 million people, and damaged an estimated 2.5 million acres of farmland, according to the Government of Thailand (GoT). Floods submerged portions of suburban Bangkok, halted operations at a domestic airport, and affected operations at important manufacturing facilities.

USG HUMANITARIAN FUNDING PROVIDED IN FY 2012

*This figure includes funding for both disaster response and disaster risk reduction activities (As of August 13, 2012).

Southeast Asia Floods Fact Sheet #3 (162kb PDF) and map (2.14mb PDF)

Key Developments

On October 7, 2011, U.S. Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney declared a disaster due to the effects of the floods. In response, USAID/OFDA provided more than $1.1 million augment GoT emergency response activities and procure relief supplies for the GoT Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM). USAID/OFDA-funded commodities included boats, motors, water pumps, generators, and water filters. USAID/OFDA also supported the deployment of an Incident Command System (ICS) specialist to work with and build the capacity of Thai emergency responders. ICS is a pre-defined chain of command that helps response personnel collaborate more effectively during emergency responses. The deployment built upon previous and ongoing USAID disaster risk reduction initiatives, including ICS training, in Thailand. At the request of the GoT, the ICS specialist was embedded with the GoT flood relief operations center to conduct a real-time evaluation of flood response operations.  

USAID/OFDA also activated a 10-person team of humanitarian specialists to coordinate the U.S. Government response in Thailand and conduct damage assessments in coordination with personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, a U.S. Department of Defense Humanitarian Assistance Survey Team, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, and others.