October 8, 2025

The Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) held a joint meeting on October 8, 2025, at CODI headquarters in Bangkok to advance strategies for community-based disaster management. The session focused on strengthening the capacity of local organizations to address floods, droughts, smog, and wildfires, and to ensure that people in at-risk areas receive timely and equitable assistance.

A key part of the meeting featured collaboration with the MIT Urban Risk Lab, who presented its ongoing work on the COPIN project, a community data pinning system developed “by the community, for the community.” The system supports the creation of local data centers and networks that help communities collect, manage, and share disaster-related information. By integrating these community data systems across Thailand’s five regions, the initiative seeks to improve coordination between local groups and national agencies, enhancing preparedness and recovery efforts.

MIT’s Urban Risk Lab also shared tools and design methods for linking physical planning with disaster risk reduction, with the goal of strengthening community resilience. This collaboration marks a step toward embedding data-driven and design-based approaches in Thailand’s local disaster management framework. CODI and its partners will continue discussions in November to finalize a joint implementation plan and expand the community-based prevention and recovery model nationwide.

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