Thailand to add hundreds of stations to boost disaster warnings
Automated monitoring stations in remote watershed forests will give communities more time to prepare for floods and other disasters
Thailand’s natural disaster warning system will be beefed up by hundreds more automated monitoring stations under a memo of understanding (MOU) signed by the Friends in Need (of “PA”) Volunteers Foundation and national agencies on Tuesday.
The MOU launched the second phase of a project to set up automated telemetry stations nationwide to measure climate, rainfall and water levels in watershed forests.
The project builds on initiatives of Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha and His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which save lives and property by improving surveillance, warning and evacuation against floods and other natural disasters.
The goal is to establish over 500 automated telemetry stations across the country.
“All agencies have committed to setting up 510 automated telemetry stations in watershed forest to deliver data for disaster monitoring and warning, as well as water management nationwide,” The Friends in Need (of “Pa”) Volunteers Foundation said.
The four-year first phase, launched in February 2020, set up 242 automated telemetry stations.
Data from telemetry stations is publicised via the National Hydroinformatics Data Centre and used to deliver heavy rain warnings via the Line app.
The disaster warning network now covers 19 flood-prone communities nationwide.
Ten national agencies are involved in the project’s second phase: the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Royal Forest Department, Department of Provincial Administration, Department of Local Administration, Provincial Electricity Authority and Hydro-Informatics Institute, Office of the National Water Resources, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, and the Royal Thai Army.
