Rehabilitation planning for flood affected areas of Thailand: experience from Phipun District

Floods are common in Thailand. A flood in the southern part of the country in 1988 was of unprecedented magnitude. Several villages and vast tracts of agricultural land were covered with mud slides washed away from deforested hills. Rehabilitation of the affected areas, a task which required complex planning, was a challenge for the District Development Committee (DDC), which is the local level planning body. The Committee encountered several problems, including inability to use the existing data base and lack of accurate information, human resources, adequate funds and coordination among agencies. Unable to cope with the new challenges, the DDC resorted to conventional planning which failed to address the problems caused by the flood. Guidelines should be formulated to strengthen district level planning for rehabilitation after a disaster.