Thai Floods Toll Jumps To 32

[webfact]

Thai floods threaten Bangkok as death toll jumps to 32

by Anusak Konglang

BANGKOK, October 23, 2010 (AFP) - The death toll from flooding in Thailand climbed to 32 on Saturday as rising waters hit more areas of the kingdom and threatened to swamp parts of the capital.

Victims were swept to their deaths or killed in accidents as vehicles were carried away by the churning waters, according to the latest report by the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand.

The floods, which began on October 10, have devastated huge swathes of the country, flooding thousands of homes and leaving authorities struggling to reach people stranded in remote areas.

More than 1.4 million people, or over 500,000 households, have seen their homes or farmlands submerged, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said.

It said the flooding had hit 30 out of Thailand's 76 provinces, while Bangkok is at risk of overflowing waterways.

The two worst-hit provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima and Buriram have each reported six deaths, while five people were killed in Lop Buri and three died in Khon Kaen.

A further 12 people have died in eight more provinces across central, northeastern and eastern areas.

The Irrigation Department Saturday issued warnings to people living in seven low-lying provinces, including Bangkok, as water from further north began to flow downstream.

Around 4,000 cubic metres (a million gallons) of water per second is expected to flow into the capital's Chao Phraya river, which coupled with high sea levels surging from the other direction, could cause floods in parts of the city.

"We advise people to move their possessions to higher ground and constantly monitor official announcements," said Irrigation Department spokesman Boonsanong Suchartpong.

Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said he was confident the city would be able to cope with the rising waters, with the central areas expected to be spared.

The capital has reinforced its flood walls with 200,000 sandbags and will build temporary wooden bridges in 27 communities to help people traverse waterlogged streets.

More than 1,000 water pumps are on standby and authorities are preparing schools, monasteries and mosques in 13 districts for evacuation.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sent her condolences "for the loss of life and damage caused by severe flooding throughout Thailand" and pledged immediate disaster relief assistance.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Saturday announced the creation of a co-ordination center to help flood victims across the country.

Abhisit said Nakhon Ratchasima suffered its worst flooding in 40 to 50 years when he visited the area earlier this week.

He said twice as much rain had fallen compared with last year in the mountainous province about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Bangkok.

Heavy rain and bad weather have battered countries in the region in recent weeks.

Dozens were killed in floods in Vietnam, while Typhoon Megi has roared into southern China after killing at least 48 people as it battered the Philippines and Taiwan.

In Myanmar the scale of the damage caused when Cyclone Giri lashed coast has not yet been ascertained.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2010-10-23

[Colabamumbai]

The Thai Government should be brought to court for the way they failed to prepare for the rains and the deaths of Thai people. But instead the prime minister keeps smiling.

The Thai way.

[Deez]

The Thai Government should be brought to court for the way they failed to prepare for the rains and the deaths of Thai people. But instead the prime minister keeps smiling.

The Thai way.

Agreed its shameful. Too little too late for some. RIP

[BwindiBoy]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

[travelmann]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

I think you'll find theyre 95% Buddhists 5% others so he would only have saved 5% at most.

[jimbeam1]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

[anterian]

The Thai Government should be brought to court for the way they failed to prepare for the rains and the deaths of Thai people. But instead the prime minister keeps smiling.

The Thai way.

Agreed its shameful. Too little too late for some. RIP

perhaps if every village were supplied in advance with a life raft similar to those on ocean liners it might have helped?

[mrjonyoung]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

I understand people desire to blame someone but nature happens and there is NOTHING we can do to stop it. Someone could have done a better job, made better public notices cleaned the drains but at the end of the day people would still die. Thats life. I feel bad for all them. It must have been a very scary last few minutes.

[ryladie99]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

I think you'll find theyre 95% Buddhists 5% others so he would only have saved 5% at most.

Two years ago I have been told from American Scientists about the water will travel from the North to the South...especially to the developing countries...Thailand also one of them....

I spoke with several relatives and friends. No one paid attention except my second sister who bought high ground properties in towns. She gave the site for me in case I want to retire in Thailand.

But, Governments in the developing countries do not have Money to take care all the business due to Corruption and domestic problems....look at Haiti as an example..it is so obvious......

The poor is the one who pays the price and the Middle class like you and I will pay Most of the Taxes while 2% of the rich pay nothing except looking good....example as such America.....

Now we have to push the legislators for the new Prevention and flood bills.....Fa rang can do and believe me anything is possible...my take and I am standing tall.

My heart and Soul go with the families...sorry....for your loss.....

[Farangdong]

Maybe if there was less concrete, roads and so on built all over, most probably without any study on hydro-geological features, and few more forests left in the country such things wouldn't happen, or at least not so badly.

But then, who we are to judge?

[Tsuboimachi]

The Thai Government should be brought to court for the way they failed to prepare for the rains and the deaths of Thai people. But instead the prime minister keeps smiling.

The Thai way.

Agreed its shameful. Too little too late for some. RIP

perhaps if every village were supplied in advance with a life raft similar to those on ocean liners it might have helped?

Edited October 23, 2010 by Tsuboimachi

[Tsuboimachi]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

I understand people desire to blame someone but nature happens and there is NOTHING we can do to stop it. Someone could have done a better job, made better public notices cleaned the drains but at the end of the day people would still die. Thats life. I feel bad for all them. It must have been a very scary last few minutes.

I have no "desire to blame" anyone. I DO want governments to do what they are paid to. There is a role for government and it is protect the safety of the people. If they don't, then they are not doing their job and should be called out for it. Pretty simple, really.

[tropo]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

...now the what if brigade chimes in. Give us a break. Hindsight can always save many lives from natural disasters.

[whybother]

The government should stop all development on flood prone land, and make anyone who lives on flood prone land to move.

That would protect the people who decide to live in these areas.

[Tanlic]

The Thai Government should be brought to court for the way they failed to prepare for the rains and the deaths of Thai people. But instead the prime minister keeps smiling.

The Thai way.

Really easy to critisise the Thai Government. Worst floods in 50 years they have been here 2 mins

No disrespect meant but how do you stop floods in a country the size of Thailand?

Have you looked to see where these flood hit?

Over a dozen provinces have been hit by flooding. You could lose the UK in an area that size and never find it again.

About the only way to stop these flood is by building the great wall of China round Thailand and puting a roof on it.

How much help and money they will put into relief I don't know but there's little else they can do.

The flood will go as quick as they came so running about like headless chickens after the fact to try and please some researcher who says they are not doing enough is pointless.

Personally I don't know what can be done to prevent disasters like this.

It would most likely take this government and the next 50 that follow all thier time and money to even put a dent in it.

This problem is here to stay IMO and it's probably an economic impossibility to fix it.

Sad fact of life but the many governments that have been in power in Thaialnd have all known what can happen if floods like this occur.

Being a 3rd world country with little or no choice even the best of them would look at the cost and been advised , accepatable collateral damage.

As ugly and horrible as that may sound unfortuantely it's a fact of life.

No doubt their will be some new programme set up with a view to preventing this in the future.

Then the next lot will come in and say too much money been spent on it and on it goes.

[Kissmehoney]

One of the problems is that many towns and cities have been built on flood plains. Once every ten or twelve years you will get a very large rainfall and then everything floods. i was in Hat Yai for the big flood in 2000 and there wasn't anything they could have done to stop it. They could however have given people a couple of days notice that a large rainfall was coming and that they should expect large scale flooding. People could then have moved their belongings and themselves to higher ground and they could have stock piled some food and water. As it was nobody was prepared for 2 meters of water downtown and many tourists staying in hotels had little or no food for a couple of days. Even the hospital downtown could not use their emergency generators because they had been installed at ground level and were now under water.<br>

[peter48]

I am not an expert on any of this but I guess Japan, Singapore or Australia must also get massive rainfall sometimes- surely someone needs to look at their infrastructure and see if anything can be learnt.

This problem is not going away and increased rainfall in the East is part of Global warming - but getting the prosperous peoples to reduce their emissions - well that's up to big politicians.

[puipuitom]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

Ever heard of building DIKES ?

In the Netherlands we started a 1200 years ago with it. Since then improved and improved and constructed over 17,000 km of dikes. In Jan 1995 the rivers came at much higher levels as ever expected. Over an area of 60 km wide and 150 km long over 250,000 people, their lifestock and everything else they want to move, had to be evacuated in just days. 30 juni 2000 problem was solved by increasing all dikes along 4 big rivers ( Rhine, Waal, Maas and IJssel) till some places 16 mtr higher as normal water level.

For the Thais: as so many things: to stupid and too lazy. What can you expect from a nation, which sells their votes for a 20-100 baht to any croock, who wants to plunder the country? From a government, who even shoot-to-kill on a protesting crowd ?

Edited October 23, 2010 by puipuitom

[whybother]

I am not an expert on any of this but I guess Japan, Singapore or Australia must also get massive rainfall sometimes- surely someone needs to look at their infrastructure and see if anything can be learnt.

This problem is not going away and increased rainfall in the East is part of Global warming - but getting the prosperous peoples to reduce their emissions - well that's up to big politicians.

Australia has floods bigger than the area currently flooded in Thailand. They also have only a few thousand people affected by the floods, not a few hundred thousand or a few million.

Japan is quite hilly so doesn't have the widespread flooding such as here. Singapore is small and hilly and they have enough money to spend on the small amount of flood protection that they need.

[kumsamut]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

act of nature is a fact.

not prepared and unable to perform are also facts.

[jimbeam1]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

...now the what if brigade chimes in. Give us a break. Hindsight can always save many lives from natural disasters.

There is a quote "forewarned is forearmed. Your point is????????????????

Edited October 23, 2010 by jimbeam1

[dude007]

Around 4,000 million cubic metres (a million gallons) of water per second is expected to flow into the capital's Chao Phraya river!

Does the autor of this article really knows what such volume of water per second means? The flood discharge capacity of the Chao Phraya in Bangkok is not much more than 4,800 m3 per second, and if above, the Chao Phraya will overtop the river banks.

But the cited discharge is about 1 million times higher!!! Where is my life jacket, where is my canoe?

[dude007]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

Ever heard of building DIKES ?

In the Netherlands we started a 1200 years ago with it. Since then improved and improved and constructed over 17,000 km of dikes. In Jan 1995 the rivers came at much higher levels as ever expected. Over an area of 60 km wide and 150 km long over 250,000 people, their lifestock and everything else they want to move, had to be evacuated in just days. 30 juni 2000 problem was solved by increasing all dikes along 4 big rivers ( Rhine, Waal, Maas and IJssel) till some places 16 mtr higher as normal water level.

For the Thais: as so many things: to stupid and too lazy. What can you expect from a nation, which sells their votes for a 20-100 baht to any croock, who wants to plunder the country? From a government, who even shoot-to-kill on a protesting crowd ?

Your comments have the same quality as Heineken...

[supaprik]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

I understand people desire to blame someone but nature happens and there is NOTHING we can do to stop it. Someone could have done a better job, made better public notices cleaned the drains but at the end of the day people would still die. Thats life. I feel bad for all them. It must have been a very scary last few minutes.

I have no "desire to blame" anyone. I DO want governments to do what they are paid to. There is a role for government and it is protect the safety of the people. If they don't, then they are not doing their job and should be called out for it. Pretty simple, really.

you have it in a nutshell, no desire to blame but governments not only SHOULD do but are paid to take care of the people not just Hi-So Bangkokians as usual a disgraceful performance by those in power...hang your collectives heads in shame...RIP good people from the north...

[David006]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

Ever heard of building DIKES ?

In the Netherlands we started a 1200 years ago with it. Since then improved and improved and constructed over 17,000 km of dikes. In Jan 1995 the rivers came at much higher levels as ever expected. Over an area of 60 km wide and 150 km long over 250,000 people, their lifestock and everything else they want to move, had to be evacuated in just days. 30 juni 2000 problem was solved by increasing all dikes along 4 big rivers ( Rhine, Waal, Maas and IJssel) till some places 16 mtr higher as normal water level.

For the Thais: as so many things: to stupid and too lazy. What can you expect from a nation, which sells their votes for a 20-100 baht to any croock, who wants to plunder the country? From a government, who even shoot-to-kill on a protesting crowd ?

Yes.... well the Thames barrier was finished only in 1984...learning curves???

[tropo]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

For a start they could have taken notice of weather reports and warn people of the threat, also offered advice?

In the larger Towns, they could make sure that the drains and storm drains are cleared of rubbish and silt.

Just maybe could have helped??????

jb1

...now the what if brigade chimes in. Give us a break. Hindsight can always save many lives from natural disasters.

There is a quote "forewarned is forearmed. Your point is????????????????

Did your question mark key get stuck?

The point is that governments will never save people from exceptional natural disasters. As long as people choose to live in flood plains, in typhoon/hurricane/cyclone allies and on earthquake faults and near volcanos natural disasters will take their toll. Some people even live near the sea...how silly. Look what hurricanes do in the US, a country that is supposedly prepared for everything.

Go figure why most of Californians live on an active fault line...as well as countless other cities around the world...and people are lecturing that the Thai government is at fault (no pun intended) here.

Not many have died. They're doing ok considering the scale of the floods.

Edited October 23, 2010 by tropo

[BwindiBoy]

So puipuitom wants a Thai government that's been in power less than 5 years to have made the same level of changes that it took the Dutch 1200 years to make - I think my point is made.

Yes, the government of every country has a responsibility to its people but other than provide better warnings I'm not sure this government could have done too much more. Some of the other comments suggest there is a lack of action taken by individuals or communities even when they are warned, added to the fact that these floods are umprecedented.

Unfortunately there is also an economic factor at play and the level of investment required would simply by way too much to even make a dent - then you'd probably have more people die from something else where the government had diverted funds from...

That doesn't make any of it right and it's horrible that people have died in this way...but I don't think the comment to take the Thai government "to court" is justifiable...

Now, taking them to court for, say, corruption...if appropriate... that would be far more substantiated...possibly... ;-)

[Billmont]

Who converted 4000 million cubic metres to a million gallons? Perhaps tthey will like to check or have another go?

[Colabamumbai]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

They knew it was coming, this is not the first time, If I can read the weather report so can they.

[BwindiBoy]

It's an act of nature; how could the Thai government have mitigated against it? What are you suggesting they should have done, ask god to turn the tap off?!

They knew it was coming, this is not the first time, If I can read the weather report so can they.

So are you now saying if you knew it was coming so did everyone in the regions flooded and they should have taken individual responsibility to move to safer places?

So where's that the government's fault?

Or are you suggesting that you are more capable than the average Thai and, whilst you would know to get to somewhere safer, they would need to be told by their government?

It's either / or - you can't have it both ways!

Edited October 23, 2010 by BwindiBoy