allan michaud

agreed

Well the anti red shirt expats will still be complaining and claiming thaksin interfered because they did not get the death sentence.

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There doesn't seem to be any "anti red shirt expats" around with that opinion.

"Pheu Thai MP Natthawut Sai-kua insisted the previous FROC spokesman did his job well, but was replaced to suit the more serious level of crisis."

well that says it all. How serious does it have to be to have a good spokesman who can communicate effectively? Froc seems an utter joke, and what genius decided on Don Muang as the base when it was one of the first areas to be flooded?

I don't think this was lost in translation, just a dumb remark that only helps to reduce confidence in the govt.

I thought this had already happened, judging from the many complaints of scams by tourists/farangs.

Evolution is changing our lives in Bangkok !! Courtesy of the great flood relief scam scheme being perpetrated by the government

But why do they need to work as Red Shirts, surely they are Thais? It seems to me that much of the efforts are politically biased which is outrageous at a time like this. The damned politicians, on both sides, are to blame.

This story is wrong, and it is worse than just bad journalism. Thanong gives preference to his radical political views than to facts on the ground, and instrumentalizes this desaster to further his political hate agenda.

There are many Red Shirt teams indeed helping out where they can. Yesterday i accompanied, for example, a Red Shirt team working under the Ministry of Interior to rescue people on Lam Luka Road stuck in their Mu Bans by the approaching waters. Many of the teams members have helped since Ayutthaya was flooded, even though their own homes are under water now. There are many teams that work under the UDD independent of FROC, other locally organized teams of different community Radio Stations are working very hard as well. They do also work hand in hand with the military. Sombat's mirror foundation is working very hard as well.

I have accompanied teams of the fire brigade, i have been on boats with police officers patrolling inundated neighborhoods by boat, and helping wherever they can. If you travel the roads to the worst hit areas, you can see police officers trying to regulate the impossible traffic. I have met Sae Daengs daughter, now a Puea Thai party list MP on a boat inspecting one of the worst hit areas. Soldiers are working incredibly hard.

Naturally, given the nature of the disaster, it takes a long time to get supplies to affected neighborhoods, when so many roads are almost impossible to pass, or when it needs long detours to reach heavily hit areas. The resources are simply stretched to thin, and nobody can be blamed for that as huge areas are affected.

Basically, on the ground, everybody does what they can, regardless of political affiliation, as everybody is affected. And furthermore, i have seen all - military, police, government, Red Shirts, locals, doing their utmost to support us reporters in our work as well. It is well known and accepted by all that the causes of the flood is basically man made - decades of wrong city planning, wrong water management, and we all know that there are problems in communication. But anyone who has some experience with disasters knows that things could be handled much worse as it is done here.

I would suggest Thanong and his ilk to shut up and get wet before writing such rubbish.

What is going on here? I am UK citizen married to a Thai with a 3 year old son. I work in Cambodia and visit my family in Khon Kaen as often as I can, about 2 weeks in every 2 months (not enough)for much of the past 4 years. I have a passport full of tourist stamps so does this mean I am not going to be able to visit my family for months at a time? I understand these measures are to be implemented in Oct yet it seems the Thai govt still hasn't decided exactly what they are going to do. Can anyone tell me if i am going to have a problem if I want to see my wife and son?

Thx a worried parent