Fifty years of natural disasters in Thailand

Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and drought – we’ve had them all
By Maxmilian Wechsler
In the last half-century, Thailand has been ravaged by its share of natural disasters that have killed and injured countless thousands and destroyed trillions of baht worth of property and infrastructure. No province has been spared the enormous human and economic toll from floods, droughts, tropical storms, tsunamis, forest fires, landslides, earthquakes, hailstorms and other so-called ‘acts of God’. It’s often suggested, however, that many such disasters are at least partly manmade and could be minimized if authorities did more to tackle corruption, bad planning, mismanagement, negligence, and political wrangling in the realm of public works.

 HERE’S a timeline of some large-scale natural disasters in Thailand from 1966 to 2016: 
September 1966: About 90 percent of northeastern Nong Khai province was submerged. Torrential downpours that started in August cut all  communications. About 300,000 residents were affected and up 30 people were killed. Heavy rains also caused floods in northern Chiang Rai province,  resulting in substantial losses for farmers.

August 1970: At least 25 provinces were devastated after two massive storms hit the country. More than 100 people were killed. Thousands were left  homeless after heavy rains inundated homes, farms and other property. Most of the deaths and damage were reported in the northeastern provinces of Uttaradit,
Phrae and Phetchabun.

November 1970: Tropical storm Ruth battered southern coastal Thai provinces for over a week, forcing thousands to flee . The storm destroyed many buildings in Koh Samui. A rail link between Bangkok and the South became impassible. Damage to the agricultural sector was high. February 1975: An earthquake was felt in Bangkok and nine other provinces. Measuring 6.0 on the
Richter scale, the quake was centred below the Andaman Sea and lasted for about three minutes, causing thousands of office workers to run out from high-rise buildings in Bangkok. Fortunately, no injuries or loss of life was reported, and damage was slight. The tremor shut down the Bhumibol Dam in Tak province, causing power disruptions in Bangkok and other areas. 

October 1980: Big floods hit Bangkok and other provinces causing millions of baht in damages. Some schools were forced to close for over a month, and damage to roads and other infrastructure and private property was widespread. The calamity prompted Deputy Prime Minister Boonchu Ronajastien to call for a long-term national flood prevention plan. Bangkok Governor Chaowas Sudlabha was red-faced when reminded of an earlier promise to keep Bangkok free of floods.

October - November 1983: Tropical depressions Herbert and Kim left a trail of destruction and death in 42 central, northeastern and eastern provinces. Forty-nine people were killed, and damage to crops and infrastructure was estimated at 625 million baht. Heavy rains caused dams and rivers to overflow, flooding villages and towns and parts of Bangkok, where roads were impassable for days. About 55 Bangkok residents died, and 200,000 homes in the eastern suburbs alone were damaged.

May 1986: A storm that originated as a tropical depression in the Andaman Sea caused heavy rain that lasted for several days and paralysed Bangkok.
On May 9 floodwaters brought traffic across the city to a standstill, with hundreds of thousands of motorists and bus passengers stranded up to five hours. Most shops were closed as streets and footpaths were underwater. Police reported four deaths by electrocution from severed power lines
that were submerged in the deluge.

November 1988: In one of the worst disasters in the country’s history at least 350 people were killed, and 75 went missing after extremely intense rainfall caused mudslides around Khiriwong and Khao Phra villages in Nakhon Si
Thammarat and Na Sarn district of Surat Thani province. The tragedy prompted Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan to order a ban on logging in forests in the South. The heavy rains also caused
serious flooding in 13 southern provinces, and many villagers were stranded for days in several districts in the Pak Phanang River basin.

​November 1989: Typhoon Gay struck the coast of Chumphon province with gusting winds of 185km/h on November 3, causing widespread devastation as it moved inland. The typhoon destroyed houses and schools, damaged crops, made roads impassable and uprooted trees and electricity poles. The Interior Ministry reported
that 529 people were killed, 508 boats sunk, 894 government buildings damaged, 400 public schools wrecked and 29,518 homes destroyed, rendering 158,605 people homeless.

October 1990: Tropical storm Ira passed over Ubon Ratchathani province in the Northeast unleashing heavy rains that triggered floods which killed at least 24 people and TheBigChilli 121 damaged more than 6,000 square kilometres of farmland.

November 1993: A tropical depression caused severe flooding that lasted for about three weeks
in the three southern provinces of Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Yala. The floods resulted in the
deaths of 23 people and considerable financial damage.

September 1994: At least 16 people were killed and 13 missing after a flash flood surprised hundreds of people swimming and picnicking
at a recreation park at Wat Takrai in Nakhon Nayok province northeast of Bangkok. Officials equipped with bullhorns warned people to leave the stream, but many ignored the warnings or were too slow to move to higher ground.

​October - November 1995: Millions of people in the Bangkok metropolitan area were severely affected by floodwaters that reached 2.27 metres
and lasted weeks. Roads all over the city sustained major damage.
The floods also spread across many other provinces and damaged large tracts of farmland. Many flood
victims complained of a lack of assistance from the government. The disaster that took more than 400 lives was the worst recorded flooding in Bangkok history, until 2011.

1997: Drought in 63 provinces affected almost 23,000 rural villages and about 414,000 hectares of
farmland.

August 1997: Flooding in northern Thailand caused by tropical storm Zita between August 22 and 23 caused 49 deaths and damage to property
estimated at 2.9 billion baht.

November 1997: Tropical storm Linda swept through Nakhon Si Thammarat province with strong winds and heavy rains that triggered flash floods in six districts. Linda took the lives of 12 people on land and more at sea. The bodies of hundreds of Thai and Vietnamese fishermen caught at sea were washed ashore in the aftermath of the deadly storm.
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​​January 1999: Thai authorities reported that as of January 29 six million people in 44 provinces had
been affected by Thailand’s worst drought in decades.

August 1999: Tens of thousands of Thais were forced from their homes after the worst flooding in 30 years inundated most of Chanthaburi province.
Police reported six people dead and two missing after three consecutive days of heavy rain  submerged towns, farms and main roads.
According to the Provincial Civil Disaster  Protection Centre, 98,166 people were affected. Floodwaters inundated some 10,180 hectares of
orchards and plantations and damaged more than 250 roads. Hundreds of vehicles were partially submerged on the roads of Chanthaburi town.

November 2000: The southern town of Hat Yai in Songkhla province experienced epic flooding in four days of extremely heavy monsoon rains that left 26 people dead and caused an estimated two billion baht in damages.

​May 2001: Following two days of heavy rain, a landslide in Wang Chin district of Phrae province in the North killed 43 people on May 4, 2001. More than 300 houses were destroyed. Thai officials blamed the tragedy on logging.

August 2001: At least 122 residents of seven villages in Phetchabun province were killed and more than 100 injured during the night  when mudslides brought on by heavy rains swept down from the mountains. Fallen trees also poured down hillsides laid bare by deforestation.

​​January 2002: Two people were killed and thousands of homes damaged after hailstones as large as coconuts struck nine provinces in northern Thailand.

April 2002: A storm killed five people and damaged about 300 bamboo shelters in a refugee camp in Tak province near the Myanmar border.

​December 2004: Floods killed
at least eight people and damaged
thousands of homes in several
southern provinces.

December 2004: Following an earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale off the coast of Indonesia in the Andaman Sea, tsunami waves struck the western coast of southern Thailand on December 26. More than 8,000 people were killed and about 8,500 injured. The damage to the Thai economy was enormous. It remains the most significant natural disaster in modern Thai history.​

2004 - 2005: According to
government spokesman Jakrapob
Penkair, between October 2004 and
February 2005 wildfires destroyed
more than 80,000 rai of forest area.

August 2005: Over 100,000
families were affected by floods in the
northern Thailand provinces of Chiang
Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son.
The disaster claimed 11 lives and
inundated about 4,500 homes.
December 2005: Heavy rains and
flash floods that began in mid-November
flooded a number of southern provinces
including Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani,
Songkhla, Trang, Satun, Nakhon Si
Thammarat and Phatthalung.

A​t least 25 people drowned, and some 368,500 families were affected. More than 80 percent of the total area in some localities was inundated.
Over 2,000 schools were damaged, 1,800 of them closed temporarily. It was the worst flood in  southern Thailand in 40 years.

A​t least 25 people drowned, and some 368,500 families were affected. More than 80 percent of the total area in some localities was inundated.
Over 2,000 schools were damaged, 1,800 of them closed temporarily. It was the worst flood in  southern Thailand in 40 years.

May 2006: Two days of heavy rains
were responsible for flash flooding
and landslides in Phrae, Lampang,
Nan, Sukhothai and Uttharadit
provinces that resulted in the deaths
of 87 people. Almost 400 villages
were under water after rivers and
reservoirs overflowed.

October 2006: The remnants
of Typhoon Xangsane, which had
already wrecked havoc in the
Philippines and Vietnam, passed
over Thailand causing significant
flooding in 35 provinces in the central
region and killing around 50 people.
Floodwaters damaged vast tracts of
farmland and local infrastructure and
spread water-borne diseases due to
polluted water.

November 2006: Devastating
floods in northern Thailand killed 211
people on November 6. The floods
destroyed 54 houses and damaged
10,000 more. Around 7,000 roads
and 480 bridges sustained heavy
damages. Ubon Ratchathani province
was among the hardest hit.
April 2007: At least 23 holidaymakers
were killed and more than 20 injured by
flash floods at three waterfalls in Trang
province on April 14.

April 2008: The Department of
Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
(DDPM) reported that 55 provinces
were suffering from the drought that
was affecting more than 10 million
people. The list of most seriously
affected provinces included Chiang Rai
and Mae Hong Son in the North, Si Sa
Ket, Nong Khai and Ubon Ratchathani
in the Northeast, and Trang, Surat
Thani and Ranong in the South.

September – October 2006:
Typhoon Mekkahla hit Si Sa Ket
province in late September spurring
torrential rains that killed 32 people.
October 2008: The death toll from
floods caused by heavy monsoon
rains in North, Northeast and Central
Thailand rose to 23 while more than
230,000 people were treated for waterrelated
diseases and injuries.

October 2008 - February 2009:
The Forest Fire Control Division
reported in February 2009 that more
than 10,000 hectares of forest had
been ravaged by 609 fires since the
start of the fire season in October.
Chiang Mai was hardest hit with 262
fires, followed by Chaiyaphun and
Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces, which
had 72 and 39 fires, respectively.

November 2008: Flooding
following heavy rains in southern
provinces left ten people dead and 190
families homeless.

August 2010: Floodwaters one
meter high caused widespread
disruption in over 1,200 households
in 36 villages in seven districts of
Lampang province on August 13.

October - December 2010:
Catastrophic flooding in the Central
and Northeast regions of Thailand
resulted in the deaths of an estimated
180 people, while floods in the South
were responsible for around 80
deaths. Government estimates put
the number of people affected at
about seven million in 25,000 villages
and put economic losses at 54 billion
baht. The floods were caused by the
overflowing of the Chao Phraya River
in Central and Northeast Thailand
and a combination of a tropical
​depression and La Niña monsoonal
rains in the South.

July 2011 - January 2012: The
worst flooding in five decades spread
over 65 provinces, mainly in the
North and Central regions, including
a large part of Bangkok. Altogether
there were 815 deaths, and over 13
million people were affected. About
21,000 square kilometres of farmland
was submerged, along with tens of
thousands of homes, factories and
businesses. The total loss to the
economy was estimated at 1.43
trillion baht.

March 2013: Heavy storms hit the
northern provinces of Chiang Rai,
Chiang Mai, Lampang and Lampun
on the evening of March 3, causing
blackouts and extensive damage to
houses and cars. Hailstones in Viang
Hang and Soi Saket in Chiang Mai
province were reportedly the sizes
of eggs.

November 2013: Around 4,000
households were damaged and 41
roads and 21 bridges were rendered
impassable in four district of Surat
Thani province due to floods. At least
five people were reported dead.

​March 2014: A torrential rainstorm
accompanied by a devastating hail
storm hit several villages in Loei
province on March 16, causing
significant damage to houses, cars
and property. The storm also downed
trees and power poles. Hailstones
in some areas were the size of golf
balls wreaked havoc on crops and
buildings.

​February 2014: The Northeast
provinces of Buriram and Sakhon
Nakhon were reportedly suffering
from the worst drought in many
years.

May 2014: An earthquake
measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale
with its epicentre 27km southwest
of Chiang Rai struck on May 5. An
83-year-old woman in Mae Lao district
was killed when the brick walls of her
house collapsed on her.

July 2014: Chiang Rai province was
struck by flash floods and landslides
after three days of heavy rain.
Thousands of people in eight districts
were affected, but no injuries were
reported.

September 2014: A total of 28
provinces, including Kamphaeng
Phet, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai,
Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phayao,
Phrae and Sukhothai were affected by
flooding that resulted in 10 deaths.

December 2014: Floods and
landslides in seven southern
provinces killed seven people and
injured three.

July 2015: Thailand was
experiencing its worst drought in
decades with water rationing imposed
in almost a third of the country. The
Royal Irrigation Department said
that the amount of usable water in
dams across the country, except in
the West, was below 10 percent of
capacity. Rice farmers were unable to
plant in June or July as they usually
would.

March 2016: The country again
struggled with severe drought that
caused water levels in major dams
to fall alarmingly low. The drought
hit the North hardest, with 22 of
Thailand’s 76 provinces affected.
Agriculture was severely impacted,
and there were genuine fears that
taps could run dry within a few
weeks.

April - May 2016: It was reported
on April 6 that fires were widespread
in forested areas of Chiang Mai, Mae
Hong Son, Tak and Nan provinces.
On May 8 a forest fire raged on Doi
Suthep Mountain in Chiang Mai.

October 2016: Floods that hit Nakhon Sawan province killed three people and inundated large areas of farmland as well as almost 30,000 homes. Across the country 14 provinces were affected, with Ayutthaya province particularly hard hit.
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December 2016: The southern provinces of Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat Songkhla, Phattalung, Pattani, Chumphon, Krabi, Trang, Yala and Narathiwat were struck by floods that killed at least 11.

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2017 natural disasters
While the period covered in this article is between 1996-2016, the pace of disaster in Thailand hasn’t slackened in 2017. Before this issue went to press there were reports that flooding in the Central region was the worst since the catastrophic floods of 2011-2012. On November 9 the DDPM issued a statement saying that flooding was present in 12 provinces, affecting 233,000 people. On November 19 the flooding remains in Ayutthaya, Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakham and Phichit provinces affecting about 82,000 people.

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