Valuation Study

Housing Damage of Floods

Attributes

Medium: Animals, Plants and/or Others

Country: Thailand

Analytical Framework(s): Economic Analysis

Study Date: 2009

Publication Date: 2011

Major Result(s)

About the Inflation Adjustment: Prices in Thailand (THB) changed by 14.46% from 2009 to 2014 (aggregated from annual CPI data), so the study values were multiplied by 1.14 to express them in 2014 prices. The study values could be expressed in any desired year (for example, to 2025) by following the same inflation calculation and being sensitive to directional (forward/backward) aggregations using your own CPI/inflation data.

Study Note: Generally speaking, climate change-related risks can be said to result from direct exposure to natural hazards such as floods and droughts. From the perspective of households, communities and even government institutions, there is no difference in responding to climate change-related or non-climate change-related disasters. Therefore, analyzing the adaptation behavior of households, communities and institutions to a natural disaster such as floods would provide useful empirical data and a valid indication of how the different sectors would adapt to a similar extreme climate change event in the future.

Study Details

Reference: Rawadee Jarungrattanapong, Areeya Manasboonphempool. 2005. Adaptive Capacity of Households and Institutions in Dealing with Floods in Chiang Mai, Thailand. EEPSEA Research Report, No. 2011-RR2.

Summary: Climate change is a modern day concern of serious proportions. Reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts may be viewed either in terms of risk reduction or improvement in adaptive capacity, or both. At the community and household levels, lessening the risk of climate change might be impossible in some instances. Therefore, reducing vulnerability can be done only by enhancing the adaptive capacity of the affected households and communities. In Thailand, flooding is a major climate change impact. This study, carried out in Thailand, set out to determine the indicators of adaptive capacity and measure the adaptation gaps between past adaptation measures and alternative adaptation possibilities. Adaptation possibilities were not restricted to new methods of adaptation, but included improvements to previous adaptation actions in terms of level and timing. Chiang Mai Province was chosen as the study area since it had a long history of flooding. Studying how the people adapted to the floods here, regardless of whether they were climate-change induced or not, would provide valuable information on adaptation capacities and strategies of both households and local institutions. At the institutional level, it was found that the flood mitigation plans of the local authorities focused narrowly on structural measures and were carried out sporadically at different jurisdictions while development planning did not take into account flood adaptation/mitigation needs. This sometimes resulted in negative externalities such as worsening floods in downstream areas. The study also found that social considerations are just as important as technical ones in the early stages of flood mitigation. The flood early warning system in Chiang Mai Province was well-developed and the flood risk map was very useful. At the household level, most past adaptation strategies were autonomous and individual in nature. Households in the rural area, which faced recurrent floods every year, were more prepared for adaptation than households in the urban area which rarely experienced floods. The latter did not believe the early warnings because they did not think that such big floods would occur in their area. Increasing public awareness and knowledge about flood preparedness was essential. The evidence in both rural and urban sites showed that the poor suffered from the floods more than the rich, for example, flood damage costs accounted for 54.2% of the household income of the poor, but only 9.7% of the rich households in the urban area. Finally, barriers to adaptation possibilities were not confined to financial constraints but also comprised non-financial constraints like knowing about the floods too late to harvest crops or perceptions that flood mitigation was the government's responsibility. The over-reliance on public flood protection measures may also deter households from taking precautionary action on their own.

Site Characteristics: CMHC is located in the Kawila sub-district, one of the four districts under the Municipality's jurisdiction. The total population of CMHC is 2,000, spread out among438 households. The study site is a residential area where most of the populations arewage workers and small-scale business entrepreneurs. The floods of 2005 affected theresidents in this area for approximately 3-7 days, depending on the topography of the area.A major impact was damage to property (houses, electrical appliances, etc.). In addition,some households, especially the small-scale retailers, also suffered income losses as theycould not do business during the floods. According to the CMHC leader, some householdshad since moved to other areas to escape the flooding problem.The Municipality is in charge of disaster management in the area including takingprecautionary measures and alleviating any adverse impacts. Generally when floods orother disasters occur, the role of the community leader is to report the impact to theMunicipality in order to obtain assistance and relief. MKT is a village of Mae Ka sub-district located to the south of Chiang Mai City.It is a lowland area located along the Ping River and is more affected by annual floodingcompared to other villages in the same sub-district. The total area of MKT is 2.5 km2 with186 households and a population of 486. The major economic activity is agriculture inwhich longan plantations are the main source of income. Farmers also plant rice, chili,soybean and various kinds of vegetables, which have shorter rotation periods and cangenerate income all through the year and help supplement the income from longan, whichcan be harvested only once a year.MKT experiences floods every year, usually from August to September. It is lowland, located downstream of the Ping River so the floodwaters from the city drain downto it. The 2005 floods affected the village seriously over a period of about one month. Theagricultural areas suffered more damage than the houses because of the lower level of thefarms. The Sub-district Administration Organization (SAO) of Mae Ka is responsible forflood management in this area. Flood management and assistance measures are basicallysimilar to those provided by the Municipality of Chiang Mai City

Comments: The study focused on analyzing the gaps between past adaptation and a set of adaptation possibilities in terms of type, level, and timing of response. We wanted to compare the adaptation behavior and adaptive capacity in urban and rural areas. The Chiang Mai Housing Community (hereinafter called "CMHC") was selected as the urban case study site and the Mae Kong Tai (hereafter "MKT") Village of Mae Ka sub-district represented the rural areas. We also looked at the adaptive capacities of government units and community organizations in relation to floods.

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