Mr. Arun Pinta, Thailand
My name is Arun Pinta and I am from Thailand. I work for
the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation(DDPM) which is the Thai national disaster management
organization. My major responsibility at the DDPM is tocoordinate ASEAN regional programs and activities underthe ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management. In
addition, I am a member of the DDPM’s Community-Based
Disaster Risk Management Trainers team, which is tasked
with creating awareness and increasing the capacities ofdisaster-prone communities nationwide. Prior to my arrival in Japan, I had many
chances to work with the ADRC staff members in Thailand. These included myinteractions with a damage assessment mission immediately after the 2004 IndianOcean Tsunami and my involvement in the "Education for Disaster Preparedness
in Primary School” project in 2006.
Let me tell you a little bit about my country. Thailand is located inSoutheast Asia and is a core member of ASEAN. The climate in Thailand istropical and shaped by monsoons. There is a rainy, warm, and cloudy southwest
monsoon from mid-May to September, as well as a dry, cool northeast monsoonfrom November to mid-March. In terms of disaster risk, Thailand shares somesimilarities with other disaster-prone countries in that we are hit repeatedly byboth natural and technological disasters. The most destructive disaster in recent
history was the Indian Ocean Tsunami, which claimed 8,400 lives in the southern
provinces. Although this tsunami resulted in the greatest number of fatalities
ever attributed to a single disaster, floods and droughts are more common events.
These water-related disasters have caused extensive and repeated damage toThailand's economic and social development.
Disaster management in Thailand was launched in 1934 when adepartment responsible for air defense was established under the Ministry ofDefense. Disaster management today is based primarily on the Civil Defense Act,
which was enacted on 22 March 1979. This act gave birth to the National Civil
Defense Committee (NCDC) which plays an important role in navigating
Thailand's disaster management activities. Under this act, the DDPM serves as
the secretariat of the NCDC and as the coordinating body for all disaster-related
government agencies, the private sector, experts, and volunteers.
Despite a long history of disaster management, it was not until October
2002, when the DDPM was established, that Thailand started to approach disastermanagement as a high priority issue. This shift is attributed to the increase in themagnitude and complexity of the disasters that we have been facing. The 2004
tsunami also provided considerable momentum to efforts to review and improvethe existing disaster management system so as to reduce and mitigate the impactof disasters. Thailand is on its way to becoming safer from disaster threats thanever before.
During my six months at the ADRC, my research has focused on two main
topics: (1) Thailand's past disasters and (2) a comparative study of earthquake
disaster management at the provincial/prefectural levels in Thailand and Japan. I
would like also to learn about disaster management in other ADRC member
countries. I hope that my research and work at the ADRC as a visiting researcher
will contribute to the transfer of knowledge, best practices and insights fromJapan and other member countries to Thailand for future applications. I also hopethat this position will give me an opportunity to contribute Thailand's knowledge
and experience to regional disaster reduction efforts.