"As flooding threatens Bangkok, governor exhorts citizens, requests sandbags" October 18, 2011|Associated Press
BANGKOK - The Thai capital needs 1.2 million sandbags to construct a 3.7-mile wall within 48 hours to keep encroaching floods from swamping the city, Bangkok’s governor said last night.
“Every second counts,’’ said Sukhumbhand Paribatra, whose call for city residents not to let down their guard posed a contrast to government statements in the morning that the flood threat to Bangkok appeared to be easing....
Is there not one government on the face of the earth that tells the truth to its people?
Sukhumbhand has consistently taken a more cautious view of the flooding threat than the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who heads a rival political party. Officials in charge of fighting the flood had suggested earlier yesterday that Bangkok would be spared thanks to the city’s complex system of flood walls, canals, dikes, and underground tunnels that help divert vast pools of runoff south into the Gulf of Thailand.
Relentless monsoon rains that began in late July have affected two-thirds of the country, drowning agricultural land, swamping hundreds of factories, and swallowing low-lying villages. The nationwide death toll has risen to 307.
And I'm just beginning to read about it now?
See: Thai Tip
Outside the capital, thousands of people remain displaced and hungry residents were struggling to survive in half-submerged towns. The military has been mobilized to help deliver relief supplies....
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Btw, have you seen or heard of any U.S. aid or appeals for aid? I haven't.
"Thousands struggle to shore up Bangkok flood defenses" October 20, 2011|By Seth Mydans, New York Times
BANGKOK - Thousands of Thai soldiers and volunteers worked yesterday to strengthen Bangkok’s flood defenses as water surged to the edges of the city, two days after officials proclaimed that the worst was over....
Not even close.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who had offered a series of reassuring statements, said yesterday that her government was stretched to its limits.
“Today, I will frankly tell you the truth,’’ she said. “We haven’t hidden anything from the public. I have left no stone unturned in this crisis, but I cannot solve it alone. I need cooperation from all sides.’’
That would BE A FIRST for a GOVERNMENT!
In a sign that the threat to Bangkok had outstripped officials’ expectations, some evacuation sites were themselves being evacuated or prepared to evacuate as the monsoon-swollen Chao Phraya River threatened to top its banks.
Thailand is experiencing its worst flooding in half a century. As rivers and streams have filled to overflowing with heavy seasonal rains, operators of dams have been forced to release water downstream.
Sound familiar, America?
Floodwaters have inundated some northern cities, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and taking the lives of more than 300 people.
As the waters have surged south toward Bangkok, where the Chao Phraya empties into the ocean, at least 10 percent of the country’s rice fields have been ruined, according to Thai media reports, and at least 1,000 factories closed, many of them owned by foreign companies or suppliers to them. Estimates of the economic toll have risen to as high as $3 billion.
Does Thailand have that kind of dough?
The country’s commerce minister, Kittirat Na Ranong, said yesterday that the government would need to invest hundreds of billions of baht to repair damage and rebuild investors’ confidence in Thai industry. (One baht is worth about 3.3 US cents.)
“The government will have to increase the budget deficit to help entrepreneurs who have been affected by the floods,’’ Kittirat said. “Moreover, commercial banks should help their customers to avoid problems with bad debt.’’
As the crisis has mounted, the response has become tangled in politics....
Oh, how AmeriKan.
Floodwaters approaching the capital have surged close to Bangkok’s two airports, although officials say the airports themselves are safe. The air force said it had shifted about 20 aircraft away from Don Muang airport, as a precaution....
If the military is moving out then the airport ain't safe.
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"Thailand authorities warned people living on the banks of the Chao Phraya River to prepare to leave as water levels reached a record and flood waters began spilling into the nation’s capital....
But the worst is over and it won't even reach Bangkok.
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"Flooding overwhelms Bangkok; Airport forced to close; crocodiles now on the loose" October 26, 2011|By Seth Mydans, New York Times
BANGKOK - Bangkok’s flood defenses continued to fall yesterday as rising waters from months of flooding began entering seven city districts, forced the closure of the domestic airport, and drove more people from their homes, while authorities tried to offer reassurances over farmed crocodiles that have escaped their pens.
In the capital, many grocery shelves had been stripped of water and other essentials, and traffic was light as people parked their cars for safety in raised garages or on highway overpasses. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reversed herself and declared a five-day holiday that would shut down much of the city’s businesses.
Thailand is one of the world’s chief exporters of crocodile products and farms some 200,000 of the animals at 30 farms and 900 small breeding operations, according to the Fishery Department. About 100 were reported to be on the loose in Ayutthaya, to the north of Bangkok.
“Please do not panic,’’ said Thirapat Prayoonsit, deputy chief of the Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, according to local reports. “The crocodiles are not fierce like those living in the wild. They prefer to live in still water and avoid strong currents.’’
Just watch where you step.
Nevertheless, authorities have put out a call for crocodile hunters offering a reported bounty of about $100 each.
Water was seeping through berms and barricades into the domestic airport, Don Muang, causing the cancellation of domestic flights, although some military supply flights continued....
The death toll in Thailand in three months of heavy rains and flooding has risen to 366....
The floods, the worst in half a century here, were part of one of the worst flood seasons in the region in decades. In an arc that includes Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the flooding and typhoons have taken the lives of nearly 800 people and affected more than 8 million, according to a tally by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Another 100 people were said to have died in Myanmar, where reports are difficult to verify....
And yet I have read SO LITTLE ABOUT THEM in the NEWSPAPER!
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It's like the Boston Globe has a Bangkok obsession.
"BANGKOK FLOODING -- A man pulled his family yesterday in central Bangkok, where many residents made plans to leave the city as officials warned of severe flooding in the coming days. At least 373 people are reported to have died in Thailand in three months of heavy rain and flooding. The floods are the worst the country has seen in a half-century (Boston Globe October 27 2011)."
That was a printed paper photo you would never have seen on the web site.
"Tensions, flood waters on rise as Bangkok seeks to limit losses" November 01, 2011|Associated Press
BANGKOK - Tempers flared yesterday along a flood barrier protecting Thailand’s capital from a record deluge surging into the city, with angry residents scuffling with security forces in an attempt to force open a floodgate that left their homes swamped.
The confrontation came as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she hoped that the flood waters could be drained through Bangkok more quickly, now that peak high tides that sent the city’s main river to record heights have passed.
We've heard that tune before.
Although much of the city is still dry, the situation remains grim in northern and western neighborhoods where water levels fed by the country’s worst flooding in more than a half century are continuing to rise.
See how lying brings bad Yingluck?
The tensions at the Klong Sam Wa floodgate in the city’s northeast illustrate the rising anger in some neighborhoods that have been sacrificed to keep Bangkok’s central business district and historic heart dry.
Like all governments, they care for elites first.
The residents grew increasingly agitated as the water levels climbed, and asked authorities to increase the amount of water being let through the gate. They used hammers and pickaxes yesterday to break through an earthen dike around the floodgate to let water out, and pushed and shoved security forces who tried to stop them....
Higher than normal tides pushing into the Chao Phraya river from the Gulf of Thailand in recent days have complicated efforts to drain flood waters flowing from the country’s central heartland, where vast areas have been submerged for up to two months....
As the government has focused in recent days on protecting the capital, there have been growing complaints that provinces north of the capital, some of which have been underwater for weeks or months, have been forgotten.
And soon the Globe will forget you.
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"BANGKOK FLOODING -- The Central Lat Phrao Mall was forced to close as flood waters encroached deeper into Bangkok yesterday, threatening the subway system. The water from the country's worst flooding in more than half a century was filling the capital's Lad Phrao intersection, where three major roads meet. The flooding, which started in the country's north in late July, has killed almost 450 people nationwide. Residents in some districts have been asked to evacuate (November 5 2011)."
"Officials warned that there were no major barriers between floodwaters and the heart of the Thai capital, less than 6 miles away (AP)."
And what is the AmeriKan media worried about?
"Thai floods could raise computer parts prices" November 07, 2011|By Thomas Fuller, New York Times
BANG PA-IN, Thailand - In neck-deep floodwaters, workers were using Jet Skis and skiffs to transport stacks of computer components out of waterlogged factories.
Three weeks after monsoon runoff swamped more than 1,000 factories across Central Thailand, the floodwaters have receded only slightly, leaving the world’s largest computer makers uncertain about when crucial parts will be available....
The image of Thailand as a land of temples and beaches has been reinforced over the years by tourism campaigns. But the flooding, the worst in at least five decades, has revealed the scale of Thailand’s industrialization and the extent to which two global industries, computers and cars, rely on components made here....
The flooding has forced Toyota to slow production in Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, North America, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, and Vietnam. Honda, the carmaker most affected by the floods, has slowed production in several countries....
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