Mitrearth, a Knowledge Platform, Identifies Risk Points, Provides Disaster Warning, Reduces Losses

MitrEarth, an online platform by Chulalongkorn University lecturers, provides simple, easy-to-understand geological knowledge along with innovative topographic map data sets for each province, identifies risk points, and gives warnings and updates on disasters for the preparedness of the people in the area.  

When news broke that muddy water had flooded many areas in Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai Province, sweeping away people’s homes and possessions, viewers of the images and news reports of this disaster began to worry and had many questions that needed answers.

Where will this huge amount of water flow? Will it reach our communities and homes? Will there be more rain? When will the water from the North reach the central region and Bangkok? Should we prepare to move our belongings to higher ground?

When people were looking for knowledge to prepare for possible floods and natural disasters, one source of information that they were interested in reading and sharing was Mitrearth, created by Professor Dr. Santi Phailobli, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. 

Chiang Rai Conversation Page (August 22) invites people to use information from www.mitrearth.org to check the list of villages in the waterways vulnerable to flood disasters if heavy rain occurs. 

Thai Geographers Page (September 23) refers to the flood route map from Mitrearth to warn people in Lampang to be careful and prepared. 

Ramrome Weather Page (October 7) uses the information from Mitrearth to explain the flooding in Sukhothai Province. 

The admins of various pages that use information from Mitrearth were resounding in their praises: “During disasters such as floods, earthquakes, smog, etc., Prof. Dr. Santi will always warn and provide up-to-date information.” 

“The professor helps people with academic knowledge in geology that’s explained in a plain language that is easy for the general public to understand” 

“He also provides free use of the information and maps on the page for both teaching and disaster response purposes.” 

Since 2019, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Santi has been the creator and admin of the Facebook page and website Mitrearth to share geological knowledge, news, and experiences in geography and earth science. The highlight is the innovative set of coordinate maps that allow readers to better understand the areas where they live and the chances of disasters occurring. 

As Professor Santi explained, “Disasters are natural phenomena that are difficult to avoid, whether they are major disasters that occur once in a while or smaller disasters that occur frequently. But every disaster has the potential to cause us damage. We should be prepared for every disaster. If people in society know about geology and natural disasters, it will help in the event of an incident. Communication and warning will be better, and the damage and impact that may occur will be reduced.”  

Earth Friend Geology – Things You Need to Know About Disaster Response Guide

Climate change and global warming have led people in society to pay more attention to and follow the news about the weather more closely– when is the next storm due, how severe it will be, when will the sea level rise, etc. But what is no less important than knowledge about climate is knowledge about geology. 

According to Professor Santi, “One reason why disasters today have caused more intense damage they cause is because the increasing population and economic conditions have pushed urban communities to expand and move closer to vulnerable areas, such as fault lines or waterways.” 

“Therefore, we should have knowledge about geology, such as low-lying areas, elevation, and water flow paths, so that we know what disasters are nearby. For example, if we live near the Nonthaburi Pier, we should know how high above sea level our house is, whether it is near the bank, which curve it is on, whether it is an inner curve or an outer curve.” 

When it comes to geological disasters, people often think of earthquakes and underwater earthquakes that cause tsunamis. But, some other disasters are closer to home, they occur frequently and cause a lot of damage. 

“Apart from tsunamis, mudslides are the only disaster that has caused a large number of deaths in Thailand. For example, the tragic mudslide that hit houses in Nam Ko and Nam Chun sub-districts in Lom Sak district, Phetchabun province in 2001 killed 136 people in a single night!” 

“A tsunami is a disaster that rarely occurs or may not occur again in our lifetime. However, we may experience a “mudslide” disaster again in our lifetime,” said Professor Santi, citing an incident that recently occurred in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province. 

“If our house is near a mountain and there is a stream flowing out of the mountain and flowing through our village, it means that our village is very vulnerable to mudslides. Therefore, whenever it rains on a mountain near us, and if the stream flowing out of the mountain near our house or where we live starts to turn the color of coffee, we must immediately evacuate the area.” 

Professor Santi said that the government should have media or information sources for people to study, learn, and research disasters by themselves. 

“If we want to see it most concretely, we should add a subject on “natural disasters” or “local disasters” to the curriculum for elementary or secondary school students. This way, everyone in society will have heard about natural disasters and how to cope with them.” 

This is what motivated Professor Santi to create the MitrEarth platform, which is like an online classroom for Earth Science and natural disasters for the general public. Since 2019, the MitrEarth page has gained more than two hundred thousand followers and has been linked to many other public pages that provide information about nature and disasters. 

What can be found on the “MitrEarth” page and website?

The MitrEarth website provides a venue for gathering interesting articles and knowledge about Earth science, history, and archaeology related to geology, which is another interest and hobby of Professor Santi. 

The website has many interesting articles, such as: 

• Noah’s Ark and interesting geology 
• “Dong Phaya Fai” Why is it scary? Geography may have the answer 
• Chances of a volcano erupting in Thailand 
• Eight ways ancient people managed water 
• Archaeology under the palm tree stump 
• Khao Mit Eto, Geology Travel 
• Hin Tang, who set it up? 
• Why is Sri Thep so great? 
• Salt: The Pla Daek (fermented fish) route 

Although the articles present academic knowledge, they are easy to read, fun, and engaging, with illustrations and maps that help readers visualize and understand the landscape that is linked to social contexts, history, and archaeology. 

In addition to articles, the website also has ready-made exercises that teachers can use to learn and test their students, such as exercises on earthquakes, deserts, oceans and seafloors, surface water, groundwater, volcanoes, and igneous rocks. 

The content on the MitrEarth Facebook page is up-to-date knowledge and information that aligns with people’s situations and interests. Some sections provide knowledge about geological events, disasters, and earth science. All information, slides, maps, and exercises on the MitrEarth online platform are available for download and use by Professor Santi to the public. 

In addition, Professor Santi has compiled knowledge in the form of e-book documents (free) summarizing content and exercises in stories related to earth science, such as the universe and the earth, geomorphology, the internal structure of the earth, surface water, groundwater, earthquakes, glaciers, deserts, etc., to be given to teachers as teaching materials and to the public who are interested in studying earth science. 

Maps (Friends of the Earth Edition) and Disaster Warnings

The highlight of “MitrEarth” that people often refer to and use is the “GIS Map,” an innovative topographic data set. 

“Topographic data sets are real geological data that can tell the elevation and depth of the area so that people in the area know whether the area they live in is high or low or is a vulnerable area that may be hit by a disaster.” 

Professor Santi said that this map was created by importing topographic coordinate data from satellites that are distributed around the world and using GIS (geographic information system) tools to analyze the spatial data into a detailed topographic data set for all 77 provinces of Thailand. People in each province can download data from their area to learn and understand it comprehensively, including areas and water sources. 

“In preparing for natural disasters, providing true information that can be checked and verified through scientific processes is important. When academics or geologists communicate that a disaster is coming, it means that they must have complete information and relevant factors because they must consider the damage that will follow if the disaster does not happen. Therefore, the information published on the page provides true geological information.” 

In the past, maps on websites and pages have been used to prepare for disaster response plans and distributed to local administrative organizations. and other public pages for disaster warning and preparation of response plans. 

“When there is news of a disaster situation, I will pull only the necessary data, make it into both still and animated maps, adjust the scale to be clear, present in the easiest to understand format, and ready to use, suitable for various disasters such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, separated into sets to warn people in the area to be able to share or use the data to prepare for response effectively.” 

The professor talked about using maps, citing the floods in Nan and Chiang Rai provinces as an example, “I compiled topographic data of Nan and Chiang Rai provinces to publish which areas are sensitive, which areas are waterways or deep channels, by comparing them to the amount of rainfall 24 hours each day to warn people to be aware and prepare for the coming mass of water.” 

Most recently, MitrEarth’s GIS map also became a part of the Digital War Room project, Chulalongkorn University’s platform to overcome disasters, an innovation to predict flooded areas and landslide lines from floods, which is an initiative of ​​the president of Chulalongkorn University, Professor Dr. Wilert Phuriwat, who wished to see Chulalongkorn University play a role in helping society in disaster warning, taking it further than donating or taking items to victims. 

Professor Santi talked about his role in this project, “The lecturers of the Faculty of Education are experts in communication technology and educational technology that can create a platform system, but they do not have materials for warning. I have information on water channels or other things that can be used for warning. So we collaborated. I am the one who supports the information for the lecturers of the Faculty of Education to put the information on the platform. When a disaster occurs, I will help present and tell the situation in as close to real-time as possible to warn during the disaster and reduce the impact that will occur.”  

MitrEarth Disaster Relief in Every Dimension

When asked about the opportunities of using AI (Artificial Intelligence) to forecast future disasters, Professor Santi said that it is not yet suitable and Thailand may not be ready. 

“Natural disasters are complex, and AI is still learning. There is not enough disaster experience data. If AI predicts incorrectly, the impact will not be worth it. Therefore, in the context of Thailand, we are not ready to entrust our lives into the hands of AI.” 

Today, Professor Santi still intends to serve as the page admin himself. He answers questions and listens to comments from people in the disaster areas, which is good information for research and helps us understand disasters better. 

“In the past, there were local people, local scholars, or government officials who shared information from the page. If they had questions or did not understand something, they would send messages to ask. Sometimes, they would report the situation, which provided real data details to adjust the display of the area data to see the actual landscape of the work site and see what the current situation is like.” 

“As a researcher and geologist, I intend to use GIS tools to develop and create topographic data sets in other dimensions to alleviate disasters in every dimension, such as watercourses. The waterways with roads at risk of road failure, evacuation points, and areas at risk of overflowing the banks, and develop the scale of the data set to be more detailed at the sub-district, district, and province levels, and develop the presentation format to make it easier to digest and view, including providing information that should be known for dealing with natural disasters.” 

Even though the disasters in Thailand’s North, Northeast, and Central seem to have eased somewhat, disasters can happen at any time, and the tendency seems to be getting worse. It is time for all of us to have knowledge and understanding of geology, local geography, water sources, elevations, etc. This knowledge is a way for us to cope with disasters in advance. And even though we did not study this in school or university, now we have “MitrEarth.” 

Follow the knowledge of geology and download the topographic dataset at 
Facebook page มิตรเอิร์ธ – mitrearth  https://www.facebook.com/mitrearth 
or website https://www.mitrearth.org/. 

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Line