Whole Thailand Comes To Aid Of Flood Victims

[webfact]

Whole country comes to aid of flood victims

By The Nation

From the Royal Palace to members of the socialmedia communities and people in all walks of life, help is pouring in for flood victims across the country, especially in hardesthit Nakhon Ratchasima and Chaiyaphum provinces.

In addition to His Majesty's Bt10 million in cash and Her Majesty's mobile kitchen staff, relief supplies and cash are being donated extensively through members of the media, charity foundations and commercial banks. It is a concerted national effort similar to but on a much larger scale than when Thai people contributed to help earthquake victims in Haiti in January.

Technology plays a big part in mobilising donations and other forms of aid and seeking help while distributing news and alerts of emergency cases and sudden flooding, through such social media as Twitter and Facebook. Mobilephone text messages in which proceeds are deducted from permessage service fees are especially convenient for donors on the move.

Senders of the text message "namjaithai" to 4567899 through Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Total Access Communication (DTAC) donate Bt10 to flood victims, thanks to organisation by Channel 3 News.

Apart from money and relief supplies, voluntary manpower is being sought for packing survival kits and loading relief supplies on to vehicles at all agencies receiving donations.

In some cases, donations are being for specific needs contingent with the types of victims and nature of emergencies, such as adult and infant diapers for hospital patients, or sanitary napkins for victims in allwomen shelters. Items generally needed are drinking water, flashlights, canned foods, instant noodles, medical supplies and overthecounter medicines.

Toilet boats are docked along the Chao Phya River in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces to serve floodaffected riverside residents.

The 1500 Miles Foundation adventure club has offered rides to and from affected areas in Nakhon Ratchasima with 30 canoes, and is recruiting more volunteers.

Bhum Jai Thai is the first political party offering help, with donations welcomed at its Bangkok headquarters. Call 02 940 6999 for more details.

-- The Nation 2010-10-21

[tomyummer]

Nice photo op above. Such pretty celebrities packing those survival packs with style. I also loved the Channel 3 bags being handed out on TV with a guy saying in Thai "make sure the logo is facing the camera, make sure the logo is facing the camera!".

I wonder what is the administrative cost (%) per 10 baht sms messages I sent to the telecom companies?

Though I applaud the efforts, can't the Thais do it incognito without having to make it the PR photo op or 'I want credit' TV appearances? It reminds me of the tsunami drives when sponsors walked on stage with over sized checks to show how much they were donating.

If they use the cameras effectively this would be a great time for all colored shirts with a show of unity to get down and dirty and come to the rescue of these poor flooded citizens.

Edited October 21, 2010 by tomyummer

[asiawatcher]

Nice photo op above. Such pretty celebrities packing those survival packs with style. I also loved the Channel 3 bags being handed out on TV with a guy saying in Thai "make sure the logo is facing the camera, make sure the logo is facing the camera!".

I wonder what is the administrative cost (%) per 10 baht sms messages I sent to the telecom companies?

Though I applaud the efforts, can't the Thais do it incognito without having to make it the PR photo op or 'I want credit' TV appearances? It reminds me of the tsunami drives when sponsors walked on stage with over sized checks to show how much they were donating.

If they use the cameras effectively this would be a great time for all colored shirts with a show of unity to get down and dirty and come to the rescue of these poor flooded citizens.

Valid points for sure. But then a lot of the aid never gets to where it should as the middlemen step in and take the spoils then sell it off. Happened at large in Phuket and was not even covertly done and no-one to my knowledge was ever charged. The endorsement here of the Royal Household involved should stymie the theft of donated goods. Will be interesting to see but all Thai's do get behind these things so like the idea of getting all coloured shirts working alongside each other and maybe take that to an ad campaign to bring to the whole country together making the point it does not matter who you support - this is Thai for Thai. Wishful thinking at any rate.

Edited October 21, 2010 by asiawatcher

[bluegum]

Yes, the footage of the mountain of Channel 3 'relief' kits - in plastic bags bearing the station logo - raised my eyebrows this morning, although I didn't catch the on-camera comment about ensuring the logo was facing the camera. Also, the people who helped throw the bags down from the helicopter to the flooded folk below didn't look much like persons trained in disaster relief - I wonder if they were instead Channel 3 personalities? Can anyone enlighten me?

My sources of information about the flooding have been primarily the Channel 3 coverage and what I find here at Thaivisa and, although my Thai comprehension isn't strong and correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems little reporting about any kind of structured and official response from Thai government authorities. I haven't seen any coverage of large scale military mobilisation or of any other kind of civil disaster relief strategy in operation. Is there an organ of national or local government that swings into gear and begins to help the affected people in such a situation? From what I've seen on Channel 3, they are one of the leading disaster relief providers. What's going on here?

[chantorn]

Whole country comes to aid of flood victims.

However Thaksin is not in this country.