AI brings real-time weather alerts to flood-prone Thailand, Vietnam

Japan's Weathernews and startups help Asia clients take early action

A man walks through a flooded market in the outskirts of Bangkok in November 2021. Asian countries are especially vulnerable to weather-related hazards. © Reuters

YOHEI MURAMATSU, JYO CHOU and RHYANNON BARTLETT-IMADEGAWA, Nikkei staff writers

February 14, 2023 08:36 JST

BANGKOK/TOKYO/LONDON -- More companies are using artificial intelligence to help shield clients in Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam from the fallout from weather-related disasters.

Damage from a flash flood in 2021 prompted an electronics factory at Thailand's Bangpoo industrial park to sign up for a pilot forecast service from Weathernews, a leading Japanese weather company. The service, which debuted in February, lets the factory outside Bangkok track the likelihood of sudden weather changes nearby within a three-hour period.