ABSTRACT
This chapter presents empirical research on the impacts of the 2011 flood in three urban, one semi-urban and three rural communities located in the suburbs of Bangkok, and Ayutthaya, Saraburi and Nakhon Pathom provinces, Thailand. Thailand's central plain, located in the Chao Phraya basin, has long been a major agricultural area or 'rice cradle.' Since the 1960s and more rapidly since the 1980s, the central plains have also witnessed a remarkable and rapid transformation. In 2011, 66 of Thailand's 77 provinces faced the most severe flooding in living memory, lasting 6 months from July 2011 to January 2012. In urban areas, severe flooding like that in 2011 is an exceptional event. Urban houses are not well protected against floods, and there is limited experience among urban populations to prepare for and manage living with flooding. Rural areas regularly experience seasonal flooding in Thailand and consider it normal.
