A Japanese-funded flood forecast system went into full swing Friday in Thailand, drawing lessons from the massive flooding there in 2011, the Japan International Cooperation Agency said.
JICA officials said the Internet-based system for the Chao Phraya River basin is the first of its kind in the world.
The 2011 floods inundated hundreds of factories and other manufacturing facilities, many of them owned by Japanese companies or suppliers to Japanese firms.
To prevent a repeat, JICA started developing the Chao Phraya River system in July 2012 with a budget of around ¥400 million.