Thailand has a tropical climate with monsoon rains that come every summer. In 2011, the rains were unusually heavy, with a sequence of typhoons sweeping across southeast Asia. Regions of Thailand are now experiencing the worst floods in over fifty years, as water immerses villages, farms, and factories. The volume of water is so vast that more than half the country has already been flooded.
This flood not only affects Thailand, but the entire world. Thailand is the world’s largest manufacturer of rice, rubber, and computer hard drives, accounting for more than 25% of world production. Over 12.8 million people have been affected.
I would love to get your insight on what is a monumental crisis communication failure by the government and authorities. If you look at the crisis timeline you can see just about every crisis communication faux pas ever identified….
What has annoyed most people is the conflicting information and non-disclosure, particularly regarding certain risks (such as electrocution). Whilst a few escaped snakes and crocodiles may have caused headlines (outrage), more pressing risks like disease, electrocution, etc. go completely unmentioned.
People just do not know what to do for the best. [With] no simple instructions and so much inaccuracy and conflict between agencies and politicians, it is simply a matter of looking out of the window and seeing for yourself. I see that from a risk comm perspective some of the criticisms voiced there (poor pre-crisis planning; poor coordination of resources; poor collaboration between agencies; failure to provide honest, candid, open and accountable communication) are relevant here.
Most of all, lack of leadership seems to be a massive problem. no courage, conviction, optimism. If this flood had occurred in Singapore, I feel sure a quite different response would have been prepared and executed.
Do you have any thoughts on how a government should communicate in this situation and how they might go about restoring trust (if they can)?