When the Waters Rose, So Did Compassion
On the night the floods came, Mali held her children tightly as water rushed into their home in Songkhla Province.
The rain had fallen for days, but no one expected it to rise so quickly. By midnight, the street had turned into a river. By dawn, their mattresses, schoolbooks, fishing equipment, and family photos were submerged.
“We left with only what we could carry,” Mali recalls. “I didn’t know if we would ever see our home again.”
Across Southern Thailand, thousands of families faced the same terrifying reality. Entire communities were displaced as monsoon rains inundated provinces including Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Narathiwat. Electricity failed. Clean water ran scarce. Schools became evacuation centers overnight.
Through the Southern Floods Response 2025, World Vision Foundation of Thailand rapidly mobilized emergency teams, reaching more than 15,200 people in the critical first phase of the response.
Relief assistance was delivered across more than 10 evacuation centers and church shelters in Songkhla Province, as well as directly to the hardest-hit households unable to access centralized distribution points.
Families received essential food, drinking water, milk, dry goods, and hygiene kits, stabilizing living conditions during the most uncertain days.
For many parents, those supplies meant survival.
“When my children were finally able to eat properly and wash,” Mali says, “I felt like we could breathe again.”
These figures reflect World Vision Thailand’s early response footprint, complementing broader relief efforts mobilized by government agencies, civil society, and private sector partners across the South.
But survival was only the beginning.
Protecting Children Beyond Physical Survival
Disasters do not only destroy homes. They disrupt a child’s sense of safety. That is why your support also helped establish child-friendly spaces within evacuation centers, providing psychosocial support and structured activities to protect children’s emotional well-being during displacement.
In crowded shelters filled with uncertainty, there were suddenly crayons, games, and trained volunteers listening carefully to children’s fears.
A fisherman from Songkhla, whose boat and fishing nets were swept away, shared:
“This storm didn’t just take our possessions. It took our livelihood. But when my daughter came back from the activity with her drawing and a smile, I knew we could start again.”
That smile is impact. It represents trauma interrupted. Fear softened. Hope restored.
The Long Road to Recovery
Although the waters have receded, the recovery journey is far from over.
Homes remain damaged. Livelihoods are fragile. Parents who lost fishing boats, crops, tools, or small businesses are struggling to generate income. Children are returning to classrooms that need repair and learning support after weeks of disruption.
World Vision’s response has now transitioned from emergency relief to long-term recovery, helping families rebuild livelihoods, restoring safe water access, supporting children’s return to education, strengthening child protection systems, and equipping communities with disaster preparedness training.
Thanks to extraordinary generosity, including support from individuals, corporate partners, and a significant contribution from a Thai K-pop artist, more than USD 318,000 has been raised to date.
Yet the recovery effort requires substantially more to ensure families are not left behind. A significant funding gap remains to fully support rebuilding homes, restoring incomes, rehabilitating water systems, and ensuring children can learn and heal without interruption.
Why Your Continued Support Matters
In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, compassion flows quickly. But true recovery happens in the months that follow, when families are still repairing, still repaying debt, still rebuilding their lives.
For families like Mali’s, recovery is not a headline, it is daily reality. “People we have never met helped us,” she says. “That tells us we are not alone.” The floods may have taken homes and livelihoods. But they did not take hope.
With your continued generosity, hope can become stability. Stability can become resilience. And resilience can shape a stronger future for thousands of children across Southern Thailand.
Donate today to help families not only recover, but rise. https://worldvision.or.th/en/disaster/