2012 Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development Disaster Management: Perspectives for Social Work and Social Development Decha Sungkawan, Ph.D. Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University Decha Sungkawan, Ph.D. Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University

Natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific Region UN recent report the region is among the most vulnerable in the world to the physical, social, and economic effects of disasters The region has sustained over 50 percent of all recorded disaster event People face catastrophe 4 times more than those in Africa and 25 times more than European or North Americans

Natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific Region UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) have reported that Natural disaster had disproportionate impacts on human development in the region

Natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific Region The report emphasizes that disaster losses are linked to and exacerbated by poverty The vulnerability of the poor stems from multifaceted socio-economic and environmental imbalances People who are constantly exposed to disaster risk are more likely to remain poor and more vulnerable to disasters

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) A non-profit organization that established the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management that comprised of 30 members from 26 countries who are working in key government positions in the National Disaster Management systems of countries in Asia the Pacific region

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) ADPC offers the numbers of disaster risk management training courses such as the regional training course on flood disaster risk management that has been conducted in Thailand and the other countries in Asia and the Pacific region as flood is one of the most destructive to property, crops and infrastructure, one of the worst for causing death and injury

Disaster risk management in Thailand has been developed under the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act 2007

Social workers provide relief services as part of interdisciplinary disaster risk management team

Social workers’ role in disaster risk management according to Thai law and financial regulation The social workers in disaster management have the primary function in responding to the impact and needs of disaster victims Social work perspective in disaster services and disaster victim rehabilitation means a short- term assistance to the disaster victims in order to strengthen them to be able to live on their own after the disaster

Social work practice models in disaster risk management The Community Based Disaster Risk Management model provides the steps for practice accordingly; Awareness building among the community members for disaster risk prevention Forming of the community organization to perform and function in disaster situation Setting the community plan on risk disaster prevention and mitigation

Community Based Disaster Risk Management

Social work practice models in disaster risk management Thai Ministry of Social Development and human Security and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, the Ministry of Interior issued; The Manual for Disaster Management: A Gender Awareness Perspective as guideline for social workers who are working in the areas of disaster management in order to create gender equality and protection to minority members

A Gender awareness perspective

Disaster management flood victims in the relief shelter at Thammasat University campus 2011 The capacity of the shelter is 4,000 and had accommodated 3,800 flood victims both native Thai and foreign workers from the localities and industrial complexes nearby the campus The Faculty of Social Administration and The Association of Social Workers of Thailand formed shelter service team of academics, professional social workers and social work student volunteers

Disaster management in the flood victims relief shelter at Thammasat University campus 2011 Social worker service team participated in shelter services include; victims’ registration, material need services, communication services, donation services, and group activities for specific target groups, child protection service, food and kitchen services, as well as cleaning services

Disaster management in the flood victims relief shelter at Thammasat University campus 2011

Social workers provided four other specific shelter services; Compile demographic database of flood victims for both short and long-term services Protection services for children, women, elderly, disabled and migrant workers Psycho-social counseling for those victims who have immediate needs Survey of needs for post-disaster and recovery response

Disaster management in the flood victims relief shelter at Thammasat University campus 2011

In the post-disaster period it has been decided by the Faculty of Administration to place 250 social work students in the communities in the lower central part of the country as part of their field work practicum. The students are expected to practice their skills in disaster risk management through analysis and assess the socio-economic impact of disasters and find out the ways to reducing risk of the communities in the flood-prone areas

Disaster management in the flood victims relief shelter at Thammasat University campus 2011

Lessons learned from daily debriefing at flood victims relief shelter Misconception in services provide by social worker in the shelter Preoccupation in operating/rescuing functions of the shelter and overlook into real needs Ethical dilemma issue in providing services and securing information that may intrude the victims’ pride and privacy Post-disaster relief services were given as low priority

Lessons learned from daily debriefing at flood victims relief shelter Social workers applied protective and advocacy roles as some donors and sponsorships’ programs violate the rights and privacy of the victims Awareness on issues of environmental imbalances between the severity of disasters in flood-prone areas and the other areas where conflicts may arise and social workers applied their conflict management skills in the situation

Lessons learned from daily debriefing at flood victims relief shelter Important lessons from the practice learning where the social work service team have learned and review; The capacities of flood victims or service users, the resilience of the families and communities The vulnerabilities of service providers themselves in the disaster situation The holistic and profound impacts of disasters that threatens the very survival of human lives

End of the day everyone wonders that this is a natural disaster or the crisis causes by human- induced destructive activities