single-dr.php

JDR Vol.13 No.5 pp. 978-984
(2018)
doi: 10.20965/jdr.2018.p0978

Survey Report:

Flood Preparedness: Challenges for Hospitals in Thailand

Uma Langkulsen*,†, Desire T. Rwodzi**, Marc Van der Putten*, and Nitaya Vajanapoom*

*Faculty of Public Health, Thammasat University
99 Mhu 18, Paholyothin Rd., Klong Luang, Pathum Thani 12121, Thailand

Corresponding author

**Clinton Health Access Initiative, Harare, Zimbabwe

Received:
April 21, 2018
Accepted:
July 25, 2018
Published:
October 1, 2018
Keywords:
climate change, flood preparedness, hospital, Thailand
Abstract

Cities are experiencing the need to protect people, natural and man-made resources and productive capacities against the risks posed by climate change related events. This descriptive study examines the flood preparedness of hospitals at sub-district, district, provincial, and regional levels in Thailand. In-depth interviews were conducted at fourteen hospitals in five provinces, including Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Prakan, and Samut Sakhon provinces. We used content analysis for this qualitative descriptive study. The highlight findings of the study revealed that lack of disaster standard operating procedures for emergency response to flood, lack of risk mapping and vulnerability assessment, and shortage of trained risk communicators. Increasing performance in disaster and emergency preparedness and response in the hospitals is essential. We suggest that the hospitals and relevant government agencies require appropriate mechanism to enhance disaster and emergency preparedness and response. Our findings demonstrate evidence of flood preparedness, which raises concerns regarding holistic approach to disaster and emergency preparedness and response for health needs at all levels that warrant further investigation.

Cite this article as:
U. Langkulsen, D. Rwodzi, M. Putten, and N. Vajanapoom, “Flood Preparedness: Challenges for Hospitals in Thailand,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.13 No.5, pp. 978-984, 2018.
Data files:
References
  1. [1] Y. Hijioka, E. Lin, J. J. Pereira, R. T. Corlett, X. Cui, G. E. Insarov, R. D. Lasco, E. Lindgren, and A. Surjan, “Asia,” V. R. Barros, C. B. Field, D. J. Dokken, M. D. Mastrandrea, K. J. Mach, T. E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K. L. Ebi, Y. O. Estrada, R. C. Genova, B. Girma, E. S. Kissel, A. N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P. R. Mastrandrea, and L. L.White (Eds.), Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability, Part B: Regional aspects, Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press and New York, pp. 1327-1370, 2014.
  2. [2] M. Baqir, Z. A. Sobani, A. Bhamani, N. S. Bham, S. Abid, J. Farook, and M. A. Beg, “Infectious diseases in the aftermath of monsoon flooding in Pakistan,” Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed., Vol.2, pp. 76-79, 2012.
  3. [3] C. Y. Lin, T. C. Chen, C. Y. Dai, M. L. Yu, P. L. Lu, J. H. Yen, and Y. H. Chen, “Serological investigation to identify risk factors for post-flood infectious diseases: A longitudinal survey among people displaced by Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan,” BMJ Open, Vol.5, No.e007008, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014- 007008, 2015.
  4. [4] Z. D. Liu, J. Li, Y. Zhang, G. Y. Ding, X. Xu, L. Gao, X. N. Liu, Q. Y. Liu, and B. F. Jiang, “Distributed lag effects and vulnerable groups of floods on bacillary dysentery in Huaihua, China,” Sci. Rep., Vol.6, No.29456, doi:10.1038/srep29456, 2016.
  5. [5] L. Gao, Y. Zhang, G. Ding, Q. Liu, and B. Jiang, “Identifying flood-related infectious diseases in Anhui Province, China: A spatial and temporal analysis,” Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., Vol.94, No.4, pp. 741-749, 2016.
  6. [6] K. R. Kafle, R. K. Dahal, and S. N. Khanal, “Postdisaster epidemiological assessment of Koshi flood 2008, in Nepal,” Int. J. Health Syst. Disaster Manage., Vol.4, pp. 15-24, 2016.
  7. [7] J. Torti, “Floods in Southeast Asia: A health priority,” J. Glob. Health, Vol.2, No.020304, doi:10.7189/jogh.02.020304, 2012.
  8. [8] T. H. Bich, L. N. Quang, L. T. T. Ha, T. T. D. Hanh, and D. Guha-Sapir, “Impacts of flood on health: Epidemiologic evidence from Hanoi, Vietnam,” Glob. Health Action, Vol.4, No.6356, doi:10.3402/gha.v4i0.6356, 2011.
  9. [9] A. Crabtree, “Climate change and mental health following flood disasters in developing countries, A review of the epidemiological literature: What do we know, what is being recommended?,” Austalas. J. Disaster Trauma Stud., Vol.2012-1, pp. 21-29, 2012.
  10. [10] K. Lane, K. Charles-Guzman, K. Wheeler, Z. Abid, N. Graber, and T. Matte, “Health effects of coastal storms and flooding in urban areas: A review and vulnerability assessment,” J. Environ. Public Health, Vol.2013, No.913064, doi:org/10.1155/2013/ 913064, 2013.
  11. [11] R. Phalkey, S. R. Dash, A. Mukhopadhyay, S. Runge-Ranzinger, and M. Marx, “Prepared to react? Assessing the functional capacity of the primary health care system in rural Orissa, India to respond to the devastating flood of September 2008,” Glob. Health Action, Vol.5, No.10964, doi:10.3402/gha.v5i0.10964, 2012.
  12. [12] J. M. Farley, I. Suraweera, W. L. S. P. Perera, J. Hess, and K. L. Ebi, “Evaluation of flood preparedness in government healthcare facilities in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka,” Glob. Health Action, Vol.10, No.1331539, doi:10.1080/16549716.2017.1331539, 2017.
  13. [13] WHO (World Health Organization), “Operational framework for bilding climate resilient health systems,” Geneva: WHO Press, 2015.
  14. [14] G. K. Bhat, A. Karanth, L. Dashora, and U. Rajasekar, “Addressing flooding in the city of Surat beyond its boundaries,” Environ. Urban., Vol.25, pp. 429-441, 2013.
  15. [15] D. Eckstein, V. Künzel, and L. Schäfer, “Global climate risk index 2018. Who suffers most from extreme weather events? Weather-related loss events in 2016 and 1997 to 2016,” Bonn: Germanwatch e.V., pp. 1-36, 2017.
  16. [16] EM-DAT: The emergency events database, Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), CRED, D. Guha-Sapir, Brussels, Belgium, “Country profile: Thailand,” www.emdat.be [accessed April 14, 2018]
  17. [17] WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, “Benchmarks, standards and indicators for emergency preparedness and response,” New Delhi: WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, 2007.
  18. [18] R. Zaboli and H. S. Sajadi, “Assessing hospital disaster preparedness in Tehran: Lessons learned on disaster and mass casualty management system,” Int. J. Health Syst. Disaster Manage., Vol.2, pp. 220-224, 2014.
  19. [19] S. Zhong, M. Clark, X. Y. Hou, Y. Zang, and G. FitzGerald, “Progress and challenges of disaster health management in China: A scoping review,” Glob. Health Action, Vol.7, No.24986, doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.24986, 2014.
  20. [20] W. W. Zin, A. Kawasaki, W. Takeuchi, Z. M. L. T. San, K. Z. Htun, T. H. Aye, and S. Win, “Flood hazard assessment of Bago River Basin, Myanmar,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.13, No.1, pp. 14-21, 2018.
  21. [21] J. R. Cope, M. Frost, L. Richun, and R. Xie, “Assessing knowledge and application of emergency risk communication principles among public health workers in China,” Disaster Med. Public Health Prep., Vol.8, No.3, pp. 199-205, 2014.
  22. [22] P. Gupta, A. Khanna, and S. Majumdar, “Disaster management in flash floods in Leh (Ladakh): A case study,” Indian J. Community Med., Vol.37, No.3, pp. 185-190, 2012.
  23. [23] N. P. Ngqwala, C. S. Srinivas, R. Tandlich, D. M. Pyle, and R. Oosthuizen, “Participatory multi-stakeholder platforms in disaster management in South Africa,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.12, No.6, pp. 1192-1202, 2017.

*This site is desgined based on HTML5 and CSS3 for modern browsers, e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera.

Last updated on Apr. 22, 2024