DGS1244

A Thai Owned and run Re-insurer cannot afford to pay the claims now, do they really think this will change anything. They still do not have a clue as to how large the final financial loss to Thailand will be. Watch the figures in the years to come. Total loss will be one of the largest in history.

Having lived in Bangkok for some 14+ years and suffering all the traffic, pollution etc. I moved to Chiang Mai early last year and have not regretted it for one minute, even after I became flooded last August. It has everything Bangkok has to offer without the problems, choose carefully where to live but somewhere like San Sai is as good as you will get or maybe Doi Siket . The cooler 'winter' makes for a very pleasant change and even in the hot season it becomes bearable. Good schools, good supermarkets, good cultural activities what else can you ask for. Enjoy

I hired a songtheaw from outside the Central store, cost 300 TBaht for as long as I wanted, took us up, waited and we returned four hours later. No Problem

I think someone is living in the Cuckoo land! I am involved in some of the flood restoration/conservation of major companies and there is no way most of these factories will even start to produce to full capacity until the end of 2012, some we are even predicting end 2013. I don't think anyone in the government has a clue as to how they will dispose of thousands of Tonnes of contaminated hazardous chemicals and then where do you start to put the rest of the debris. This will go on for years to come. Wake up out there.

A bit like our comment, Amazing saying nothing.

Your A/C's must be one of your main problems, had the same last year then turned them off and saw the bill dropped to 10% of what it had been. Think you may be under a misconception that when your turn a A/C to lower temperature it comes out colder, wrong, the temperature of the cooled air remains constant, the room temperature is governed by the A/C turning it self off and on. If faulty then it never turns off and you pay the consequences.

Guess we Brits must have it easy compared with the Yanks and Aussies. I quick trip to the consulate for letter, backed up with tax statements etc. agreed, expensive yes but only once per year. The to IMG CM 15 minutes with the officer and out, no problem.

If you take the Chiang Rai road turn left at the large crossing after the Doi Saket turnoff towards the reservoir, go for about a kilometer keep to the main road and on the left hand side you will see the Pang Faen Resort, address 116 M. 5 Pameang. You can drive in and park and then walk dogs through the grounds and into the forest area beyond. Although there are a couple of Soi type dogs in the grounds they are no problem and the owner always gives you a good welcome. The restaurant is quite good and you can have a cold beer after your long walk or even take a swim in the very large pool.

In Chiang Mai it is no problem in getting it, have you tried your local 'Mackro'? they seem to have stocks of most things.

Try Mee Mee's in the market behind Mea Chock Plaza, all the staff as well as the owner are Burmese.

Bleach is far the best to kill mould, well diluted, also get your A/C working as soon as possible and turn it onto the de-humidification cycle, not cold one, seal the room and keep it running. The room will dry out quicker than relying on warm weather and if you can add air movers (fans) even better. This from experience of drying houses, factories and other properties for some 30 plus years, all to do with Air Psychrometrics.

I expect you will have to do it at Chiang Mai. Here's a real world example of how another office will refuse to accept a 90 day report. Right now I've evacuated my Bangkok home due to flooding; staying in Nakorn Pathom right now with my 90 day report due 11 days from today. Last Friday I bumped into another expat who lives in Nakhon Pathom and he said he had just went to do his 90 day report at the Nakhon Pathom office but couldn't because it was closed/two feet of water around it. He said he was going to Kanchanaburi Immigration instead to do the report. So, I decided to tag along and off we go to the Kanchanaburi office on Friday.

Thanks for info, should have guessed nothing would be that straightforward.

On Friday 11 th. November for Loy Kratong I took the family to a restaurant on Charoenrat Road, surprisingly parking was no problem but the service was. We eventually got a waitress to take our order, the drinks took about 15 minutes and starter 16 minutes, one main course arrived then a second some 10 minutes later, warm fish but cold chips. We were then informed that another main course we had ordered was not now available so we changed it to a Carbonara/Spaghetti, by the time that arrived, another 10 minutes, the first serving was finished and the fish less cold chips was almost consumed. The Carbonara turned out to be a tasteless lump of overcooked spaghetti and after a couple of mouthfuls was left for the rats to eat. Asking for the Check Bin and telling the waitress that the food was inedible became a daunting task, after agreat deal of discussion we were offered another 'meal' but by then everyone else had long finished anyway. I managed eventually to find the 'manager' to discuss the problem, by this time my partner. being Thai, just wanted to pay up and leave but after a lot of haggling I managed to get the bill discounted reasonably. I appreciate that it was a very busy night, but having run major restaurants in the past I know from experience that is no excuse for poor food and service. If they have complaints then they should be able to deal with them promptly. Guess where I will not be going again. Maybe there should be a forum where complaints regarding restaurants can be aired for all to read.

Can any one help?, can you do the 90 day reporting at any immigration office or does it have to be the one where you are resident. I ask as I live in Chiang Mai and will have to do my 90 just before New Year, last time it took forever. I will be traveling back from Bangkok week before New Year and could do it at Nakon Sawan where I used to do it when living there. It only takes a few minutes there even with a queue. Advice appreciated.

"Insurance claims to exceed Bt600 billion

Achara Pongvutitham

The Nation

A few comments known from long experience in the insurance market

"Damage claims from Thailand's flood crisis will exceed Bt600 billion, including actual damages and losses due to suspended business, greater than the impact of the tsunami in Japan, according to an initial assessment by the Office of the Insurance Commission (IOC).

The greatest damage is in seven industrial estates: Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate, Rojana Industrial Park, Hi-Tech Industrial Estate, Factory Land, Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate, Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, and Bangkadi Industrial Park. Combined damage was assessed by the IOC recently at more than Bt600 billion, on a total insured amount of Bt456.79 billion. Insurance companies will have to pay Bt200 billion for claims, accounting for about 30 per cent of the total loss.

This figure is way too low, the consequential loss claims will be far higher and can easily treble each claim.

The Federation of Thai Industries said the losses from those seven industrial estates would be Bt300 billion to Bt400 billion, covering 891 factories and 460,000 workers.

About 90 per cent of the total flood losses are reinsured, with the remaining sum also reinsured for another time. As a result, Thai insurers will not be hit too badly. Anon Vangvasu, senior vice president of the non-motor claims department of Bangkok Insurance, said BKI would take on only 5 per cent of the total losses. Affected companies are mainly Japanese manufacturers, and they had purchased risk coverage from Japanese insurers in Bangkok.

Fine for Japanese insurers but most Thai Companies do not bother to re-insure on the international market and it is very doubtful if any of them have sufficient funds to meet their obligations.

Japanese insurance companies operating in Thailand include Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Tokio Marine Srimuang Insurance.

Anon said claims would cost Thai insurance companies Bt3 billion to Bt4 billion.

He said the losses of companies in the seven flood-affected industrial estates would be classified into three groups: buildings and construction, stockpiles, and machinery. The initial assessment by insurers indicates that buildings will account for 10-15 per cent of the losses, stockpiles 40-50 per cent and machinery about 50 per cent.

Again no mention of consequential loss which is the highest figure.

After the flood has receded, insurance companies will send assessors to the factories to determine the damage to machinery, then technicians will be allowed entry for maintenance before repairs, for instance applying moisture protection. The final process will be handled by technicians who restore the machines.

Insurance companies will apoint independent LOSS ADJUSTERS not Assessors, there is a major difference between the two. Loss Assessors are private companies who offer the insured help in preparing their claim, often inflating figures.

The biggest problem facing insurance companies is low numbers of staff and assessors. The OIC is considering easing some regulations to allow technicians to enter factories and make some repairs before insurance assessment starts in order to minimise losses.

The insurance policy conditions require the occupier to minimise the claim as soon as practical, you don't have to wait for the 'assessment'.

"Those technicians will help reduce damage to heavy machinery and prepare plans for maintenance and repairs in advance. Moreover, they can report to parts suppliers whether any parts have to be imported," Anon said.

They are not Technicians they are Chartered LOSS ADJUSTERS

Nobody knows yet how many machines have been damaged by the floods but at least 100 engineers will be needed to manage the assessment. Insurers will compensate policyholders only after their damage claims have been validated."

Try a thousand plus engineers, 100 won't go far.

Many micro organisms will survive brief boiling, you should boil for 5 minutes. If you use the type of kettle with auto shut off, leave the top open, then it will keep boiling. Boiling will not remove inorganic pollutants. For pure water collect the output from your aircon and melt the ice buildup in your fridge.

Be very careful if you start to drink ultra pure water such as distilled or dionised it does not contain any bacteria, which you need to digest, and technically you can 'drown' with it. There are many documented cases of people dying from drinking pure water for too long.

"Surely the Australian insurance company can take them to court in Australia."

Only if they actually sign a claim form, oherwise all the company can do is to black list them and prevent them from getting any future insurance.

"Foreign insurers have stopped taking in flood reinsurance, as they lack confidence in Thailand's water-management system," Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said yesterday. "This is crucial. No matter how much the government is doing in rehabilitating industrial estates, investors need all-risks insurance or they could relocate their investment."

It is the foreign Re-insurers who are getting jumpy, I doubt if there is a single Thai Insurer who has sufficient funds to meet their obligations and very very few of them re-insure on the international market. Only the large multinationals will have adequate cover and eventually the losses will be come from the Likes of Swiss re, Zurich Re, Munich Re, Allianze Re unless you are an Japanese Owned company and their cover will come from almost certain a 'Captive' back in Japan. If the local Thai thinks he will get paid, if he is insured that is, by his 'local' provider he is in for a big shock. It will have to come from the government and we all know what will happen to the monies then.

Question is who imported illegal snakes into Thailand in the first place. Who ever it was should have brought in anti-venom at the same time. Someone needs to be held accountable for this one.

" No Chemical Leakage" Who is kidding who. Chemical storage drums are seen frequently in video reports floating away from factories, you telling me none are leaking. I doubt even if the empty ones have been purged so who's to say what is in the water.

Flooding Bangkok is not going to help anyone. Over 60% of Thailand's financial income is created in Bangkok. Flood Bangkok and you will have several million more poor people and no tourist income for a long time to come. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions, that's life. Protect your wealth then you will have monies to help those poor souls who have suffered and yes I have already been flooded but I still say protect your capital.

For many years I reckoned that about 5% of 'bar' girls were OK for long term relationship then a friend corrected me and said about 1% of the 5% would be a more accurate figure. After a few more years I agreed he was right, having learn't the hard way. Now my long time partner was not a 'bar girl' and even pays her own way, a miracle but it can happen just takes time finding the right one and not in bars. Also having lived and worked in Sweden I can understand Thai ladies having problems with the men there, mind you the Swedish ladies can leave a lot to desire, must be something to do with the long nights and short days, too much time on their hands.

For what it is worth I have had both my Knees replaced at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok under Dr. Panya. Excellent work with no real problems and a lot less than 350,000 TBaht. Just make sure that you get the joint you want, there are different types and the Asian joint has more flexibility than the European one, I have one of each, the Asian one was not available when I had the first one done, and the Euro one does not allow so much bending making it more difficult to do simple things like cutting toe nails. All saying that I have no regrets and recommend it to anyone who needs it.

I agree with "drdoom6996" back in August when we were flooded in Chiang Mai they said that there was so much water Bangkok will flood in a month or so, did anyone listen?. Of course not that would have required someone to do some PLANNING and we all know that word does not exist in Thailand.

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FROC also announced that the Royal Thai Army would handle the water management in five provinces

Hope they can control water better than helicopters.