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

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