New disaster mitigation training center to be set up in Thailand

BANGKOK, August 16 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Interior plans to set up a new training center for disaster relief and mitigation, taking a recent cave incident in the Thai North as a good lesson. Thai Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda told journalists of the plan on Thursday, after presiding over a ceremony in Bangkok to close a workshop, themed "After Action Review:ARR", aimed to learn on the incident of the deep Tham Luang Cave in the compound of the Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park in Mae Sai District of the northern Chiang Rai Province, where a 12-member team of young Thai football players and their coach were trapped for over two weeks due to massive inundations during the monsoon season. General Anupong said he will soon propose to the Thai government the establishment of the new training center for disaster relief and mitigation, where programs on proper knowledge of the prevention and the mitigation of disasters will be offered to personnel of relevant parties. General Anupong acknowledged although a national-level disaster relief and mitigation plan has been in good place, separate action plans on specific issues need to be publicized to strengthen the national plan to become more perfect. According to the interior minister, the specific issues include relief and mitigation measures for people who are trapped in caves and effective fire fighting actions in highlands. The interior minister quoted Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha as suggesting that local disaster warning systems include legal bans and strong enforcement measures of the bans in the alarming process, along with the first monitoring and the last public evacuation processes. Besides, social media channels, as well as newspaper, television and radio broadcast services should also be included in the local disaster warning systems. The interior minister announced, meanwhile, that his ministry has worked out new organizational and operational structures of the national disaster prevention and mitigation systems, covering annual drills on the prevention and mitigation of disasters in local areas. (TNA)