On Thursday, 9 December 2021 during 9.00-11.00 am, the 7th Steering Committee Meeting of the SATREPS Area-BCM (DREAM) Project was held in a hybrid manner at the Faculty Committee Room, Engineering Building 3, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, for the aims of reporting progress, exchanging ideas, and discussing future collaboration and direction with advisory members and collaboration entities.
The meeting started with welcome remarks from Prof. Kasem Choocharukul, Ph.D., Associate Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, to project members and participants from collaborating organizations including the Department of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), the Royal Irrigation Department (RID), and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT). The associate dean said in his speech that the project has received good cooperation from the aforementioned sectors that could contribute towards the development of the disaster risk management for industrial sectors and promote it to ISO/TC 292.
Prof. Chakkaphan Sutthirat, Ph.D., Vice President for Research Affairs and the Chairman of the meeting, followed with opening remarks that put emphasis on the disaster-wide utilization of the developing toolkit under the project. The vice president also pointed out that the unprecedented interdisciplinary integration among technological science, social science, and population studies would bring forth a monitoring and emergency response plan that not only deals with natural disasters but also other potential incidents in the future.
Hence, the moderator, Asst. Prof. Anurak Sriariyawat, Ph.D., introduced the overview of the SATREPS Area-BCM (DREAM) Project including updates on the operation structure, project design matrix, and research members with the presentation and the brief video. Consequently, the progress report was divided and sequenced into 4 main parts:
1. Development of Flood inundation model for the Industrial Parks presented by Asst. Prof. Anurak Sriariyawat, Ph.D.;
2. Community Research presented by Tadashi Nakasu, Ph.D.;
3. Business Impact Analysis presented by Asst. Prof. Tartat Mokkhamakkul, Ph.D.,
and
4. Area-BCM Establishment and Dissemination presented by Jing Tang, D.Eng.
After the progress report presentation, the meeting moved on to the session with advisory members and collaboration entities in which the representatives took turns sharing information, opinions, and suggestions. Ms. Areerat Wijitpatcharaphon, Plan and Policy Analyst; and Ms. Panphen Wongwattana, Foreign Affairs Officer from the DDPM, expressed great interest in the flood forecasting model, the developing toolkit, and the application potential of BCM and BCP for the use of governmental agencies.
Consequently, the representative from the RID, Mr. Santi Tem-iam, Director of Water Management Division Office of Water Management and Hydrology, firstly stated that the 7-day forecasting model was going to help support RID in terms of water management and administration. The director went on presenting the overall water situation of Thailand and related aspects of water management and administration.
Then, the representative from the IEAT, Mr. Teerawut Charoensuk, Director of Development Department, extended thanks to the research team. The director stated that the project has made great progress on the 7-day flood forecasting model and hoped to connect the toolkit of the project to the central warning system of IEAT in order to master its efficiency. The director also made some suggestions on the toolkit development and offered to help coordinate companies if the project would like more samples.
The meeting concluded with closing remarks by Prof. Chakkaphan Sutthirat, Ph.D., who offered his thanks and admiration to all project members for their contribution for the establishment of Area-BCM toolkit along with participants for their information sharing that would strengthen the successful collaboration in the future. Prof. Chakkaphan finally expressed thanks to JICA for the long-standing support.
The SATREPS DREAM (Area-BCM) Project is a joint research project between Japan and Thailand under the SENDAI framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The project is schemed to launch a sustainable economic growth platform through disaster resilience enhancement at Industry complexes in Thailand and input to ISO/TC292 by the year 2023.
Written by Ms. Pieng-in Punyaprasiddhi
Checked by Asst. Prof. Natt Leelawat, D.Eng., and Mr. Kullachart Prathumchai