Promoting Disaster Prevention Information on Facebook :Safe Travel Tips
Action plan project by HANDs! Fellows2014/2015 from Thailand
Major disasters do not often occur in Thailand. But because of that, the people have limited awareness of disaster prevention.” This is what the three HANDs! 2014–2015 fellows from Thailand Nuttapong Tonhirunmas (Son), Thitiphon Sinsupan (Hope), and Pichapon Robru (Klang) felt through their study tour to the four countries including Thailand and Japan.
Communicating with more people via Facebook
In terms of disasters, flooding often occurs in Thailand. However, the three felt that they wished for the people to have a greater awareness of preventing disasters other than flooding. In response, and particularly to reach youths, they planned and executed the “Safe Travel Tips” action plan that used Facebook as a place to share disaster prevention information.
In order to learn the type of disaster prevention that was needed by, and would be effective for, the people of Thailand, the three interviewed people in their local community. They also investigated which keywords related to disasters and disaster prevention were most often searched for via the Google search engine in order to investigate what information they should share on Facebook.
Son, who works at a design company, planned the design to use on Facebook, while Hope and Kelang, who work as disaster prevention and disaster measures specialists, suggested what information would be necessary in order to decide which information to share on Facebook.
The unique approach was to share other information in addition to disaster prevention information
The Safe Travel Tips feature a family of characters from Thailand that discuss disaster prevention information through illustrations of the parents and children. The unique approach taken by Safe Travel Tips is that in addition to general disaster information, they also include useful information for daily life in cities and precautions for traveling.
In March 2016, there were many areas in Thailand affected by drought when it failed to rain. In response, Safe Travel Tips featured illustrations describing the remaining amount of water stored in dams in each region, and the content reached many people who clicked on the like button. The series also features seasonal precautions for daily life, such as preparing for flooding during the rainy season, and dealing with sudden temperature fluctuations when it rains.
Son explains that “many people became interested and read our content because we did not limit ourselves to disaster prevention information alone.”
Over 14,000 followers
Safe Travel Tips posted a total of 98 illustrations between December 2015 and March 2016. As of May 2016, they are followed by approximately 14,200 people. Many of those they reach are youths between the ages of 20 and 35, and the sharing of disaster prevention information via Facebook is reaching many people.
In the future, they plan to publish their illustrations in other media, such as free community newspapers.
Safe Travel Tips
Participating Fellows: 3 Fellows 2014/2015 from Thailand, Nuttapong Tonhirunmas, Thitiphon Sinsupan, Pichapon Robru
Location: Facebook
Project dates: December 2015-March 2016
Scope of outreach: Followed by more than fourteen thousands people
Project Contents: Posting illustrations on Facebook to promote preparedness for disaster and daily dangerous.
