How one man is saving his community from natural disasters

In 2011, something happened to the village of Pieng Kok that Boonpeng In-kaew – who was 70 years old at the time – had never seen before. A devastating flash flood hit the sleepy hamlet in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he had lived his whole life. Within hours, the village was unrecognizable: the force of the flood had razed entire homes to the ground and caused a vital bridge to collapse. Entire swathes of forest were submerged underwater, along with all of the streets. Two people were killed, and 80 homes were destroyed.

“I had never thought that could happen,” he recalls in disbelief. During that monsoon season, much of the country was affected by catastrophic floods, and the government’s hands were full. When the authorities’ response proved to be too slow, Boonpeng decided to take matters into his own hands. He began identifying which houses needed the most urgent repairs and enlisted the help of a local relief organization. From that day onwards, he became determined to prevent anything like the disastrous floods from ever happening again.

Now 88 years old, Boonpeng has dedicated his life to keeping his community safe. He leads his village’s disaster response team and its disaster prevention strategies, including the building of dams to prevent future floods. “Don’t ever think that something would never happen,” he warned. “Natural disasters happen everywhere, whether it be a storm, a flood, a landslide or an earthquake.”

Every year without fail, he helps to organize a community-wide disaster preparedness training. Villagers are taught to identify the warning signs of disasters and how to execute the evacuation plan. Absolutely no one is exempt from the sessions, Boonpeng says: “The elderly should be educated. Children, monks… everyone.” With the entire community aware of the steps they need to take in the event of an emergency, he can make sure that no one is left behind, including special procedures for the bedridden, the ill, and pregnant women.

His insistence on teaching everyone on the generational spectrum is not just a matter of inclusivity; it’s actually critical to the success of his disaster prevention work. A familiar story is seen in many homes: people leave for better work opportunities in cities, leaving their children in the care of their elderly parents. This leaves these households even more vulnerable to disasters, making community-wide involvement and coordination crucial to saving lives.

Boonpeng’s work doesn’t just help to make sure that senior citizens like himself stay safe – he’s helping them to stay active. With the country’s birth rate slowing and the population rapidly ageing, it’s increasingly important to engage the elderly, lest they grow idle and become relegated to the fringes of society.

He could have been satisfied with simply being the head of his village’s senior association, a position that he had held for a decade and that one wouldn’t expect to require much effort. But he put his group – as well as other senior associations – to work, making sure they contributed to the rebuilding of houses damaged by the floods. He has become an example for his peers, and there’s no slowing him down: he’s taken on a new role as the chairman of culture and tradition for his sub district.

People like Boonpeng are the glue that make these villages real communities. He is able to build bridges across different sectors and strata of society, galvanizing every official, chief and committee to cooperate. In his eyes, this “unity” is the key to keeping people safe. Though he’s poured his heart into his own immediate community, his work has been recognized at the international level. In 2014, he was honored by ASEAN as a “Community Resilience Champion” on the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

It was just over a decade ago that Boonpeng took his first forays into improving public safety. He had simply noticed that children were at risk of getting hit by cars in his village’s streets, and he wanted to find a way to make it safer. This urge to protect his community comes from a sense of duty, he says, leaning on an old Thai adage explain his desire to pass on the wisdom he’s gained: “Those who have knowledge should spread that knowledge. If they don’t, how can others gain that knowledge?”

Boonpeng could have chosen to live out his retirement in peace. But instead he has found a new life purpose in his sunset years: to save lives, young and old. “Being alive is to be “blessed”, he says, his eyes crinkling as he smiles. “Staying alive is the most important thing.”

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