Govt Sets Up 'war Room' To Tackle Drought Crisis

[george]

Govt sets up 'war room' to tackle drought crisis

BANGKOK: -- The government will set up a 'war room', or an ad-hoc operational centre to tackle the current drought crisis, the newly-appointed Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, Sudarat Keyuraphan, has announced.

Mrs. Sudarat told TNA that the 'war room' would be directed by the Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr. Banphot Hongthong.

The move was an agreement from a joint meeting of agencies concerned, including the Ministries of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Defence and Interior, at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives yesterday to discuss the country's severe drought situation currently.

"The main task of the war room is to work closely with provincial authorities to x'ray natural water resources, dams and reservoirs nationwide, as well as x-ray the levels of drought affected by over 75,000 villages across the country now", Mrs. Sudarat disclosed.

"Information gathered from the war room will be used to draw and implement measures to address the drought problem and assist local residents in specific areas precisely and effectively", she added.

The drought stricken areas will be classified into three zones.

The red zone is for areas where local residents are facing acute shortage of water consumption.

The yellow zone is for areas facing shortage of water supply for livestock, and the green zone is for areas where local farmers have insufficient water for their farm use.

The war room is required to report updated situations to the government twice a week, according to Mrs. Sudarat.

Other measures, including artificial rain operations, would also be urgently implemented to ease the current drought crisis, she noted.

More than 60 provinces out of the country's 76 provinces have been affected by the current drought, said to be the worst in two decades.

--TNA 2005-03-17

[The_Moog]

1) Ban Songkran water chucking

2) See Point 1.