sfbandung

Don't want to sound silly, but has all risk of Suvarnibhumi being flooded gone now? We're back on Dec 14 and by the sounds of things BKK will still have plenty of water around. The water seems to be defying all the predictions as to when it will be over.

When you look at the map, the water is flowing from North to South. On the Eastern side of Bangkok, it is now all around Bang Chan Industrial Estate, from there is will flow towards (and hopefully around and not into) Lat Krabang Industrial Estate. After that, on the way to the ocean, lies Samut Prakarn Province and Suvarnabhumi airport.

We don't know yet whether these industrial estates will hold up, and whether the airport will ever be seriously threatened. However, we will know long before 14 December (maybe in about 10 days oir two weeks) whether the airport will be OK, and the roads leading to it. You have no reason to be worried: If the airport is flooded or inaccessable by road, the airplane will not land there. They won't drop you in a lake, I am sure of that.

Thanks Tom, I think.

It barely bears thinking about, but if Suvarnabhumi were to close, and Don Muang is still closed, what would happen?

Don't want to sound silly, but has all risk of Suvarnibhumi being flooded gone now? We're back on Dec 14 and by the sounds of things BKK will still have plenty of water around. The water seems to be defying all the predictions as to when it will be over.

" the price will depend on how bad the flooding gets"

Nothing like a bit of opportunistic price gouging. Nice.

"The government should review its populist policies such as tax breaks for first car and home-buyers. People are now buying their first boats," Wittaya said.

Well said. I like this guy.

You just beat me. He's a bloody comedian.

"Rats Feeding on Trash Increase Disease Threat"

If the politicians started eating the rats it would be "Trash Feeding on Rats ..."

It's nice to see that someone has finally got the promised B300/day.

I noticed that too. She kept her promise!

There needs to be a general change in the habbits of each and every person living in this country.

This starts with the no- sense handout of plastic bags, straws and yoghurt spoons in supermarkets and convenient stores, over the absolutely horrendous energy waste game that will soon come up for Christmas and ends at factories just dumping all sorts of poisonous waste in every river that flows.

If I have EVER seen a "throw-away"-society, it is this one.

What about a recycle- system like in many European countries: you buy a can of coke for 20 Baht instead of 15...and when you return it, you will get your 5 Baht back.

But of course, you would have to educate people to think for themselves...

If they had a series of adverts encouraging recycling and green ways, with perhaps a member of the Royal family promoting and appearing in them, it may go some way to getting the message across. A bit like the 'sufficiency economy' was.

You fail to understand the "base" imbecile simply DOES NOT CARE.

So don't bother even trying?

There needs to be a general change in the habbits of each and every person living in this country.

This starts with the no- sense handout of plastic bags, straws and yoghurt spoons in supermarkets and convenient stores, over the absolutely horrendous energy waste game that will soon come up for Christmas and ends at factories just dumping all sorts of poisonous waste in every river that flows.

If I have EVER seen a "throw-away"-society, it is this one.

What about a recycle- system like in many European countries: you buy a can of coke for 20 Baht instead of 15...and when you return it, you will get your 5 Baht back.

But of course, you would have to educate people to think for themselves...

You are right. And therefore it is a non-starter in Thailand. The questions is how long can this go on before it blows up in their faces?

If they had a series of adverts encouraging recycling and green ways, with perhaps a member of the Royal family promoting and appearing in them, it may go some way to getting the message across. A bit like the 'sufficiency economy' was.

An excellent suggestion. And I believe it's something HM would get behind. In Australia it took less than one generation for a complete change of attitude, to the extent that if you turf something out of your car these days you are highly likely to cop abuse at the next set of traffic lights.

The advertising is easy, because to even the most base imbecile it's obvious we can't keep buggering up the place for ever.

Reason for edit: Typos as usual

Nothing would surprise me about the Thai psyche. A significant proportion of Thais saw the Reds as heroes - when they rioted in Bkk in 2009 and when they came back a year lager and commandeered downtown for two months with tires and bamboo spikes and bloodshed. That same proportion keeps rallying around T, even though he's proven in dozens of ways what a scoundrel he is. No matter what low down act he does, or denigrating thing he utters, he will forever be a hero to the Reds. Even if he were to not pay taxes on his multi-billions or if he commanded a force which killed nearly a hundred young men in gov't detention, he would still be a hero to die hard Reds.

Oh wait a moment, now that I think about it, .......he already did those things.

So then, it wouldn't surprise you if Thaksin and the Reds turned on each other either.

Me? I'd really like to see that.

It would be a surprise if the Reds turned on him. There are some inklings of that happening, but until it becomes wide-spread and a completed disassociation occurs, they lack the credibility they've always had. I, too, would welcome their removal of support as it would be opportunity to actually do something positive for the rural poor, instead of them being manipulatively used as pawns.

As for Thaksin turning on the Reds, I'd say that's an impossibility. They are his bread and butter and without them, he's finished in the political arena.

.

Absolutely. It has to happen the other way round. Perhaps they'll slowly wake up to the fact that he is manifestly corrupt. I doubt it though.

That said however, Abhisit missed a perfect opportunity to embrace the rural poor. And I don't think it would have been that hard.

I don't think she should step down over the flood crisis. Any move she makes to protect or grant immunity to her brother is an entirely different matter. That issue must remain with the judiciary.

It pays to remember that a so called developed country, Australia, made a complete botch of their very own flood crisis in Brisbane this year. In fact it could be strongly argued that they actually caused it by not letting water out of Wivenhoe dam much earlier.

There were no calls for anyone to step down or resign.

What an idiot. That's all that is worth saying.

And he does have the sort of smug face that you wouldn't tire of punching.

He looks like he'd prefer a slap. He certainly deserves one.

"Bangkok might be contributing almost 41 per cent to the country's GDP ..."

I love how he brushes this off as being almost insignificant. That's nearly half, and more than enough justification for taking drastic measures to protect it.

This seems to be a case of a lot of knowledge being a dangerous thing. He's enagaging in some spectacular mental gymnastics to convince himself that the social and financial capital of the nation shouldn't be given some priority.

OK. Now we really have something to worry about.

Didn't this post just have double entendre written all over it.

Bring it on...

Thank Buddha they published this. I haven't been able to sleep worrying about it.

Seriously, how is this news?

NNT is a branch of the Public Relations Dept of Thailand, If you looked you would see they have a facebook page they update regularly and the PRD website is updated regularly too

http://thailand.prd.go.th/index.php

NNT's Facebook page hasn't been updated (something added to their Wall) since October 15.

http://www.facebook....61657982?v=wall

While the PRD does produce news itself on a sporadic basis (checking their list of articles reveals it is averaging only 1 or 2 articles per day and sometimes none) and has updated since then, the NNT is the actual "meat and potatoes" daily news production department (15-30 articles per day) and it hasn't produced news on it's English-language site since October 31.

This is perplexing, and a concern. I hope it winds up having a logical answer.

This topic is about floodwater spreading in inner Bangkok. It is not about climate change. Further off-topics will be deleted.

Please stay on topic.

Copy that Scott. Message received and understood. My original reply was based on a direct quote from the article though, I didn't mean to fire this up.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

so your still denying climate change despite all the evidence? are you blind? you are now in a very very tiny minority, even the most skeptical have changed their tune in recent years. the only real debate is whether humans are the cause. Bangkok will be underwater permanently, it is just a question of time.

If you read a little further you'd have seen that I accept the climate is changing. It always does. The debate is now about whether it is man made or not. And despite Aries' Tolstoy-like response to my original comment the jury is still very much out.

As an Australian (albeit an absentee one) I'm offended by the fact that the nation must now endure a ridiculous carbon tax because we have a hung parliament and Gillard must pander to "climate change evangilists" (hell, if someone can call me a "climate change skeptic" they deserve a moniker too).

And it's "so you're still denying ...". And start new sentences with a capital letter, please.

Cheers, sf

Reason for edit: correcting typos

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Like they did with this flood? Splendid idea. You seem to be qualified to lead the Irrigation Department. I suggest you move in right away. It's on Sam Sen, next to the river. Just remember to bring rubber boots and a snorkle, just in case

I was offered the head of FROC, it seems I was over qualified.

I get bored with the old "climate change" chestnut being thrown up all the time.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this catastrophe has been incredibly poorly handled.Just look back at all the announcements saying that Inner Bangkok was safe.

Look back at the unusually low release of water from the dams March to July. It was only before March that it was at normal level and only from August that it was higher than normal release, when it was a little too late and guranteed to cause flooding.

Without excusing anything that has gone on here, a similar thing happened in Brisbane. They let Wivenhoe dam get higher and higher and decided way too late that they needed to let some water out. And Wivenhoe was built specifically for flood mitigation. The so called experts then let it get so full it actually exacerbated the problem.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Or how about actually understanding the science and accepting the fact that it's not scare mongering but reality. Even some of the more vocal climate change skeptics, UC Berkeley professor Richard Muller, are now accepting that climate change is actually happening. In a report funded by some of the more diehard skeptics, the Koch brothers, he found that the data that proves climate change is correct. For more on this: http://news.discover...nce-111024.html and the study it self here http://www.berkeleye...g/resources.php

This probably isn't the forum but my main point was that it isn't relevant now and tossing it up is a furphy.

The climate is changing, it always does. It's been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years. Al Gore and his mates propose that it is man-made. That's the debate and it's a long way from over.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Like they did with this flood? Splendid idea. You seem to be qualified to lead the Irrigation Department. I suggest you move in right away. It's on Sam Sen, next to the river. Just remember to bring rubber boots and a snorkle, just in case

I was offered the head of FROC, it seems I was over qualified.

I get bored with the old "climate change" chestnut being thrown up all the time.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this catastrophe has been incredibly poorly handled.Just look back at all the announcements saying that Inner Bangkok was safe.

"Or even moving the entire city."

How about waiting until it actualy happens. More climate change scare-mongering.

Including the weekend market or not?

I am suppose to pick up some items this weekend there.

Weekend Chatuchak Shopping list:

1) Green Mamba Anti-venom

2) Crocodile Net, Heavy Duty

3) Chest-high Wading Boots

4) Portable Toilet

5) Water Purification Equipment

6) 10 Cu Mtr/sec Water Pump (diesel)

7) Flotation Device for Automobile

8) Jet Ski

9) Wind-up Emergency TV

10) Scuba Outfit

11) Boat Big Enough for All of the Above (except the Jet Ski)

Funny Max, funny. A little humour is definitely called for.

BTW, are green mambas water snakes? And I think crocodile nets only come in the "heavy duty" variety.

"Chest-High wading boots" reminds me of a bloke whose cellar was flooded and the water was higher than his gum boots. "I had to send the missus down", he said. "Why?". "Well she's shorter than me so the boots come up higher on her".

Crimes of passion I can almost relate to.

But breaking her legs and stuffing her in a suitcase and dumping her? Who does that?

I reckon he's bonkers and where he should be.

This is HILARIOUS!

"Airlines operating out of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport are reporting full bookings through to the end of this year"

Wow,really?

Not true. I read it and panicked as we hadn't booked through to Udon Thani in mid December. Plenty of availibility on Air Asia and Thai. So BKK UDT isn't a problem. Perhaps they meant "to the end of this week"? Or they just made it up.