Local government and military officials
begin a meeting to discuss a joint typhoon storm surge response plan.
Patcharapol Panrak
Military, local government and national agencies
would integrate operations to handle flooding from the aftermath of a
major typhoon striking the area under disaster-response plans proposed
for Chonburi Province.
Representatives from more than 50 departments and
agencies met July 20 at Royal Thai Marine Corps headquarters in Sattahip
to discuss response to storm surge from a typhoon packing winds of
178-209 kilometers per hour.
Kobchai Bun-orana, head of the military’s Disaster
Protection and Mitigation division, said the best response plan would
see civilian and military personnel work together in the event a typhoon
corresponding to a Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale was
to strike the area.
Storm surge from such a typhoon could run as much as
3.7 meters, swamping large parts of Samae San and other coastal regions
along the Gulf of Thailand, he said.
Chonburi Deputy Gov. Pakarathon Thianchai said it was
gratifying to hear the Royal Thai Army’s Department of Civil Affairs is
suggesting military and civilian departments join forces. Planning for
disasters, even for those unlikely as a Category 3 hurricane, will ease
the minds of coastal residents and help civilian agencies understand
their roles in emergencies, he said.
