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Abstract - During July to November 2011, severe flooding was experienced over vast areas of northern and central Thailand in the Chao Phraya River basin, including Bangkok and its suburbs. The economic damage and number of people affected have been termed the worst disaster in Thailand. It was caused by the combination of excessive rainfall, poor reservoir operation, policy conflict, and wrong decision making by the governmental sectors. After the flood, the government setup a strategic committee to draft a conceptual plan for flood warning, prevention, flood fighting, and mitigation. However, the current implementation of the government policy does not make this clear to the public. In this paper, the causes and lessons learned are reviewed. The future conception plan is presented. The policy and water management of both normal and crisis situations are discussed to improve the implementation.
Keywords - Conceptual plan, lessons learned, severe flood, Thailand flood 2011.
1. INTRODUCTION
Thailand is a Southeast Asian country located in the tropical zone within latitudes 5°30'N to 20°30'N and longitudes 97? to 105°E. There are five regions, i.e. the north (mountainous), Central Plain (Chao Phraya River basin), Khorat plateau, Eastern uplands, and the Southern peninsula as shown in Fig. 1.
The Chao Phraya River basin is the largest and the most important for land and water resources development. It is located in the north and central regions of the country and occupies about 35% of the total area of Thailand. The annual rainfall in the basin ranges from 1 ,000 to 1 ,400 mm. The tropical climate is based on two major wind systems; the northeast and southwest monsoons. The northeast monsoon occurs in the dry cool period from November to February. The southwest monsoon occurs in the wet period from May to October. As well as monsoons, these areas are subjected to tropical storms, which mostly originate in the South China Sea. About 90% of the annual rainfall occurs during the wet period, causing heavy floods. The total volume of available runoff is estimated at 3 1 ,300 million cubic meters per year [ 1 ].
The Chao Phraya River basin consists of eight river basins including Ping, Wang, Yom, Nan, Chao Phraya, Sakae Krung, Pa Sak, and Tha Chin, covering an area...