Commerce Min monitoring supply of goods in storm-hit areas

Commerce Min monitoring supply of goods in storm-hit areas

Thammarat Thadaphrom

The Ministry of Commerce is monitoring the supply of everyday products in all areas affected by Tropical Storm Pabuk.

Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that provincial commerce offices have been instructed to ensure that there are enough supplies of goods and essential items at communities and shelters in areas battered by the storm, which has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. 

It is highly unusual for tropical storms to make landfall in Thailand. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in Thailand was in 1962, when Tropical Storm Harriet impacted 12 provinces and claimed as many as 900 lives. According to the Meteorological Department, no previous tropical cyclone had struck Thailand in the months of January, February or March in records going back as far as 1951.

National energy company PTT Exploration and Production Pcl said it had suspended operations at Bongkot and Erawan, two of the country’s biggest gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand.

 

-- nnt 2019-01-06