Lunchbob

It is already having a positive effect. Professors here are discussing asking outsiders to come in and reform their broken, battling departments. 

Well done, Mr. Prayut. Thank you for your efforts to improve things.

It is a great thing. I doubt he is trying to take over, so to speak, but rather to actually reform very jaded, corrupt universities. Careerism and ego and lack of srength in leadership have many Thai unis at stalemate. This move could break the lazy, destructive patterns. It probably also allows foreigners to be department heads, etc...? Could be very productive.

I have never heard of this problem before. Something must have changed?

4 minutes ago, seajae said:

there has been no change to the dams in Thailand for years so every govt is at fault for not doing something about it, floods are an act of god, no one can control the rain or the course of the rivers or the lay of the land. Thailand has flooded for years, centuries even before any dams were built, its part of the country. While the dams do mitigate worse damage they still need to be controlled correctly, those operating them need to ensure that they are no compromised by too much water or the floods will be a lot worse, at the same time they need to ensure that water release is done under the proper constraints and within the regulations. What doesnt help are those that do not allow for drainage when the build anything, utilizing lower land that will flood more easily and not maintaining anything built to slow the flooding, usually when something gives way it is because someone wanted to make it easier for them to get at what they wanted, I have seen roads collapse because farmers dug out the base of them to plant more trees, they dig through retaining walls so they can pump water more easily then when there is heavy rain they wash out completely but they like to blame others instead of themselves. Every govt has screwed up, its people that dont support the current one having a bitch session same as others do with other govts, the fault lies with nature and the rain, no one can control that

Well said. The water needs to be slowed, spread and sunk. The dams are like bombs.

18 hours ago, halloween said:

When I consider it unjustified, yes I respond. The criticism from Chainarong is ridiculous. I checked the Water Watch site (you could do the same) and the dam mentioned was mitigating the flooding, discharging heavily, but less than the inflow, as it was near full. The claim that downstream dams were preventing drainage is similarly stupid - water is draining into their catchment, which at 100% percent full is NOT going to flood the surrounding area.

 

More to the point, why is there any blame to the junta? Where is the political interference as with Yingluk? The red sycophants were quite happy to claim she couldn't be blamed for heavy rain when there clearly was political interference in water management, but hypocritically don't allow the same concession where there is no such interference.

 

BTW do you have anything to add to the discussion other than a cheap personal attack?

It is not Prayut's fault the dam reservoir was mismanaged. It cant be full in July because they burst over the top and send massive amounts of water at high speed down narrow channels as soon as it rains heavily. We flooded because the dam(s) was mismanaged. Chaimong is correct. And even now the channels are spilling over about 200 meters so every piece of land next to a stream is still flooded because it cannot drain into the full stream.

Very important article. Thank you, Pravit RUJIVANAROM. Summary: The current water management strategies are incorrect. The reservoir burst which can only happen through human error. Officials tried to soft soap or cover what really happened.

I dont feel the PM is responsible. Local officials need to do what they agreed to do, manage the reservoir levels to avoid this radical overfill, etc...

2 hours ago, leeneeds said:

Research of snorkel rice that can grow very long stems that will allow gas to transfer to the atmosphere may help in these flooding prone areas, water proof rice may also help,  this rice can survive up to 2 weeks submerged , and in most areas we are talking about the flood waters lower or move on for what ever reason,

 

Investing the 3000 baht as a line of credit to farmers  is a short term fix, assistance in the long term needs different varieties  of rice crops to help alleviate these farmers problems, that continue each year.

The issue is stability. If an area floods and to what extent. No one knows how to prepare. My area has not flooded like this in 20 years. No kne expected 2 meters of water, but half a meter, OK, we understand that.

It has flooded again in Sakon in some places. The water receded/deained for about 6 hours and then it rained and the dams are full so the released water overflowed the stream system and reflooded all of the farm area. 

23 hours ago, YetAnother said:

ignores the facts, the reservoirs and other water retention areas were full Before the flooding; why ?

This is a good observation. Are the dam personnel managing levels across the region? It seems not

2 hours ago, robblok said:

A problem here in Thailand is that local organisation often only spring into action after they are forced too by people higher up. It is as if they are afraid to work and make some changes. So many incompetent people on posts that just want to collect salary and skim of budgets.. it would be too much to ask to do their job. 

 

Look at the guy of the disaster prevention with warehouse full of boats.. not used... saying that they are already allocated and some are not working (then fix them.. its your job). It really looks like people don't want to do their job or are not good at it.

Yes, robblok knows what is what. Thank you

2 hours ago, Thian said:

Most Thai won't even wake-up a guard when he is asleep while on duty. I see it happening almost daily.

 

Our place has good and bad security guards, the good ones sometimes get surprise presents from us.

 

Benz-drivers mostly have an attitude but securityguards like to please them to get 20 baht tip. One day a guard was dragging my motobike around untill i stopped him. He was moving it to a bad spot so an old chinese lady could park her Benz on my spot and he would get his 20 baht.

He said he was allowed to drag my bike around since he was a guard. My bike was properly parked in a tiny corner but he moved it many meters from it's spot.

 

Those old chinese/thai ladies have a superarrogant and selfish nature though, also in shops they act like it all belongs to them.

 

Yes. It may seem bitter to some who have not been in Thailand long enough, but I have and I have seen this too, many times. 

Yes, it is possible the water levels will not sufficiently decrease on once dry land for another 5 weeks. 

Warnings were abundant in Sakon

The dam water levels are not managed correctly at best. Same kind of people in education, etc...blocking more intelligent, competent younger people bc of severe hierarchy cultural norm....blah blah

3 minutes ago, patyh said:

You know what Thailand need? A network of reservoirs, interconnected with one another so that if one regions floods, the other won't have to contend with drought! 

 

Why do they think installing pumps and draining all the water into the river will solve the problem in the long run.. Mismanagement is the reason why Thailand fluctuates between flood season and drought season.  

Politics and the current thought at the time came from academics in the eighties and nineties and they were not strong on permaculture principles that today, as you describe, are more appropriate and actually work. Now there is a huge structure of jobs and salaries and poo yai this and that supporting large, expensive dams, etc...Not easy to just rip up and start over.

This area is not really full of Yingluck supporters. Generally people just do their best to get by and deal with things as they come., There is probably laziness and general ignorance at the local level regarding water management, but no more than normal everywhere.

Nong Han Lake is full so there is no where for the water to drain. The dams are part of the problem, but that is everywhere not just Sakon.

Why would it not have any value?

Who does this writer really work for?

My sister in law bought a piece of land from someone in the village and let them grow rice there. A few years later they came to her with the purchase price and acted as if the sale was actually a loan.

Wonder what kind of visa he could have?

Courageous speech. Well done.

Forced wai protocol