Background Nakhon Ratchasima province is the largest province of Thailand. Its main areas are agricultural. Its statistical death of drowning, that usually occurs in rural areas and natural water sources, is in the top 10 provinces of Thailand.

Methods This project has been starting since 2012. It has been built by a network of Merit Maker team comprising many sectors. This project has been based on the revision of existing experience and the own cost. This project was started from one team in the urban and then was expending to rural areas until it was completely covered the 32 districts in 2015. There are educations about safety on water for communities, skills about helping people from drowning, survival skills on the water when drowning and, skills for CPR. In addition, there are using the resources that are easy to find out in the area, build up communities network team to manage high-risk water sources and, installing warning sign with first aids for helping people from drowning.

Results According to the study, it is found that the number of children, who died from drowning (0–14 years old) in Nakhon Ratchasima at the beginning of the year 2012, there were 40 children (8.0). In 2013, there were 36 children (7.4). In 2014, there were 23 children (4.8). In 2015, there were 36 children (7.7). In 2016, there were 38 children (8.1). In 2017, there were 20 children (4.3). The number of dead children from 2012–2017 has been decreasing because of the good cooperation between a network of Merit Maker.

Conclusion Death from drowning can be prevented by creating a network Merit Maker team in the area, using the simple methods that focus on skill training for children and managing about environmental water resources under resources of the area.