BOOK CHAPTER: Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response: A case study of Hat Yai Municipality, Thailand

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Publication date:
December 2020

Publication:
Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach

Chapter Title:
Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response: A case study of Hat Yai Municipality, Thailand

Authors:
Carl Middleton and Orapan Pratomlek

Editors:
Matthew Scott and Albert Salamanca

Read the chapter in Google books here. Learn more about the book here .

For more information about our work, visit our research theme on (Forced) Displacement and Development here , and our research on Flooding Disaster, People’s Displacement and State Response in Hat Yai.

Hat Yai City in Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand has regularly experienced flooding, with major floods most recently in 1988, 2000 and 2010. Each flood caused loss of life, as well as significant economic damage and disruption to people’s lives, including displacement. The government’s response has evolved over time, as has its capacity to respond. Recovery responses in 1988 and 2000 emphasized investment in hard infrastructure (canals and embankments) to redirect flood water around the city, and to manage flood water better within it. The 2010 flood, however, led to the realization that it was not possible to fully “flood-proof” the city, leading to investment in soft infrastructure in an approach that has become known as the ‘Hat Yai model.’ This includes: improved flood warning; and strengthening local government, community, civil society and business capacity to live with floods and manage displacement locally over the several days that flooding occurs.

In this chapter, we critically evaluate the Hat Yai model, with a focus on how it has progressively reduced the extent that displacement occurs during flooding, and how preparedness measures have addressed displacement when it does occur. Our research is based on key informant interviews and indepth community interviews conducted in 2018. Overall, we find that the Hat Yai model demonstrates the positive efforts of the government and non-state actors to improve community resilience and address flood-induced displacement through hard and soft infrastructure means. Yet, there are still unresolved issues including: how the protection of Hat Yai city comes at the expense of prolonged or exacerbated flooding in other areas nearby to the city (i.e. risk redistribution); and that there remain especially marginalized communities in the city who regularly experience flooding with displacement with little state support or prospect for durable solutions.

Please contact Dr. Carl Middleton for more information.

Citation: Middleton, C. and Pratomlek, O. (2021) “Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response: A case study of Hat Yai Municipality, Thailand” (pp 57-78) in Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach. Routledge

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Long-term recovery narratives following major disasters in Southeast Asia

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JOURNAL ARTICLE: Long-term recovery narratives following major disasters in Southeast Asia

Most studies of major disasters focus on the impacts of the event and the short-term responses. Some evaluate the underlying causes of vulnerability, but few follow-up events years later to evaluate the consequences of early framings of the recovery process. The objective of this study was to improve understanding of the influence that recovery narratives have had on how decisions and actions are undertaken to recover from a disaster, and what influence this has had in turn, on long-term resilience. The study drew on comparisons and insights from four case studies in Southeast Asia: (1) local innovations that led to new policies for living with floods in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam following the 2001 Mekong River floods; (2) livelihood and infrastructure responses in Prey Veng, Cambodia, after the 2001 and 2011 Mekong River floods; (3) the role of the Panglima Laot, a traditional fisheries management institution, in the recovery process following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh province, Indonesia; and (4) the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises in a market area following the 2011 floods in Bangkok, Thailand. This study identified alternative narratives on the purpose and means of ‘recovery’ with implications for who ultimately benefits and who remains at risk. The study also found both formal and informal loss and damage systems were involved in recoveries. The findings of this study are important for improving the performance of loss and damage systems, both existing and planned, and, ultimately, supporting more climate resilient development that is inclusive.

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BOOK CHAPTER: Chapter 1: Migration and floods in Southeast Asia: A mobile political ecology of vulnerability, resilience and social justice

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BOOK CHAPTER: Chapter 1: Migration and floods in Southeast Asia: A mobile political ecology of vulnerability, resilience and social justice

Flooding is a common experience in monsoonal regions of Southeast Asia, where diverse flood regimes have for centuries shaped agrarian and fisheries-based livelihoods. However, in recent public discourse, the link between flooding and migration is most often made with regard to catastrophic flood events. News images of frequent and intense weather-related flood events in the region’s low-lying megacity and delta regions in recent years has contributed to a perceived link between extreme environmental events and mass migration through displacement. Yet, this focus on mass displacement frames migration in largely negative terms. Mobility is seen as a failure of adaptation to a changing environment, with both trans-border and internal population mobility to some even regarded as a security issue.

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POLICY BRIEF: Water Governance and Access to Water in Hakha Town, Chin State, Myanmar: Towards Addressing Water Insecurity [Chin language]

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Publication date:
July 2017

Publication:
CSDS Policy Brief

Author:
Carl Middleton, Naruemon Thabchumpon, Van Bawi Lian, and Orapan Pratomlek

Please see the Chin language policy brief here.
Please see the English language policy brief here.

Summary
Hakha cu Kawlram nitlak chaklei fing le tlang an tamnak Chin ramkulh khualipi a si. A liamcia kum tlawmpal ah Hakha khuachung khuasa an hung karh ciammam i dinti ah harnak a tong. Cu lio ah 2015 Chiapa thla dongh ah mincimhnak hun ton a si i minung a thong lengkai hmundang ah ṭhial hau in an um. Hi kan dothlatnak nih a langhter mi cu zeitluk in dah ti harnak hi taksa nunnak le zatlang khuasaknak aa pehtlaih: Khuapi pakhat a si i, minung an hung karh tik ah zeitin in dah inn hmun an samh ti le khua an ser ning, tihram ngeih mi hna pawngkam vialte thinghau le thinghlam nak nih ti a chuak tawn mi le hman tawn mi a tlawmter, cun ti pekning le sersiam ning kong ah tangka hman awk pek lonak hna nih ti kong ah i zat lonak le harnak a chuahpi. 
Khuaram kan sersiam pah i ti kong biapi chiahnak nih ti harnak in i runven khawh a si, tiva horkuang sersiam ning, atu lio tawlrel cuahmah mi sipin ti peknak le hman ning kong ah laihlum khuasa hna le ti a hmang mi hna he i fonh in tiharnak in i runvennak timhtuahnak ngeihchih a herh. Cun, a biapi deuh rih mi cu ṭuanvo ngeitu le mizapi karlak ah i zumhnak, i bochannak le i ngamhtlaknak hna nih Hakha khuachung khuasa hna caah ti pek ning le ti hmuh ning ah hngatchan tlak le rinhchantlak a siter lai.