BANGKOK, 28 August 2019 - In the face of climate change and growing urbanization, Thailand is taking key steps to strengthen its resilience, including through a better understanding of disaster-related economic losses. The collection of statistics on losses and damages, especially on key sectors such as agriculture, housing, infrastructure, and cultural heritage, can guide risk reduction efforts to safeguard these sectors. 

In January 2019, Thailand won international praise for its swift actions in response to Tropical Storm Pabuk. Thousands of citizens and tourists were safely evacuated from harm’s way and the storm caused few deaths. That said, the storm’s impact on southern Thailand’s critical infrastructure was significant. Besides damaged homes, hundreds of hospitals and schools were damaged. Thai education officials estimated Pabuk caused 110 million Baht (3.6 million USD) in damages to 435 schools in the south. 

To inform better investments to disaster resilient infrastructure and design sound risk reduction plans, it is critical to have access to quality disaster loss information to prioritize the most affected areas. In light of this, Thailand’s Department for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) partnered with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to organize a workshop to inform government officials and private sector partners to better coordinate the collection, sharing and reporting of disaster damage and loss data. Such data will be used to also track implementation progress against the global Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-30). 

The workshop focused on the indicators for two of the Sendai Framework targets; C, which calls for reducing direct disaster economic loss in relation to GDP, and D, which calls for reducing disaster damage to critical infrastructure, among them schools and hospitals. Target D is the focus of this year's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is observed on 13 October 2019.