Warning As Floods Menace 19 Thai Provinces

[webfact]

FLOODING

Warning as floods menace 19 provinces

By THE NATION

A nine-year-old Burmese girl suffered an electric shock while wading through floodwater in Tak's Mae Sot district yesterday.

She is being treated at the Mae Sot Hospital, as police investigate. They believe the electricity supply to the area had not yet been cut off when the Burmese girl reached the flooded spot.

Floods hit many areas of the province yesterday- while officials are still trying to find out more about the earthquake that hit Trang on Friday.

In Mae Ramat district, residents in two villages were evacuated in the face of rising floodwaters and more than 100 houses were inundated. The floods also ravaged a vast area of paddy fields but no casualties were reported.

The National Disaster Warning Centre also warned residents of Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Phayao, Phrae, Nan, Uttaradit, Tak, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Loei, Nong Bua Lamphu, Udon Thani and Nong Khai to beware of possible flash floods.

In Nan, floods had hit 48 villages as of press time.

Meanwhile, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) is trying to determine the epicentre of Trang's first recorded earthquake in history.

"Since Thailand started recording earthquakes half a century ago, there had never been one in Trang before," Lertsin Raksasakunwong said yesterday in his capacity as head of the DMR Environmental Geology and Earthquake Department.

The tremor was felt in Trang's Hat Samran district late Friday night and Lertsin said it measured between 2.6 and 3.5 on the Richter scale.

Locals in Kan Tang district blamed the earthquake for cracks in their houses.

Lertsin said at this point, it remained unclear where was the epicentre of Friday's earthquakes.

"But we are trying to find out," he said, "The information will help us estimate quake risks in the future".

Of the 13 known active faults in Thailand, none has straddled Trang.

-- The Nation 2011-06-27

[webfact]

Flooding critical in North; Cabinet to discuss aid for victims

NAN, June 27 – The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday will discuss help for flood victims, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Monday while on the campaign trail, as flooding in the North, especially Nan, is reported as critical with one fatality.

An 80-year-old man drowned after fainting when his house in the provincial seat was flooded by two metre-deep water. Provincial authorities moved the body of Thanat Srijai from his flooded house by flat-bottomed boat to the Nan provincial hospital

The prime minister, in the northeastern province of Yasothon for election campaigning, said that he is closely monitoring the floods in Nan and elsewhere in the North and may visit the area Monday afternoon.

Nan’s provincial seat was evacuated in an ordered way, he said, but Wiang Sa district, a catchment area, faces more difficulties.

Flooding in different parts of the province is still critical. The flood level is two metres deep in some areas and local residents must move their household belongings and pets to higher ground. A number of villages are cut off from the outside world.

On Monday morning, the flood level in Nan municipality is about 50-70 centimetres deep, and vehicles cannot pass through the area. The water level in the Nan River hit a crisis point at 11.37 metres at Baan Pha Kwang. The flood has damaged extensive areas in Pua, Tha Wang Pha, Wieng Sa, Muang Nan, and Phu Pieng districts.

Nan municipality mayor Surapon Thiensutr said the flood in business areas affected more than 2,000 homes and structures in 12 communities. A number of shops and hotels on the main road have been affected.

Officials distributed more than 3,000 sandbags to locals. After the great flood in 2006, officials have better handled emergencies and offer systematic help. Advance warnings help residents to handle the problem.

Nan provincial administration organization chairman Narin Laoaraya ordered workers to prepare sandbags, food, drinking water for flood victims and warned that floodwater level is likely to rise on Monday before it is stable and drops, if there is no more rain.

Meanwhile, many schools in Tak’s Mae Sot district have closed indefinitely. Many roads in Mae Sot municipality have been flooded, and traffic has been disrupted, particularly during rush hours.

In Mae Hong Son’s Pai district, overnight rain has inundated low-lying areas. Paddy fields and other crops have been extensively damaged. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-06-27

[sirchai]

"But we are trying to find out," he said, "The information will help us estimate quake risks in the future".

We're trying to live in Thailand, but they make it more and more difficult for all of us.............:jap:

[David006]

"But we are trying to find out," he said, "The information will help us estimate quake risks in the future".

We're trying to live in Thailand, but they make it more and more difficult for all of us.............:jap:

strange the USSG reporting station has nothing..?? another news paper says the epicenter was in Hat Samram district wherever that is...this sounds like a whole lot of "prole feed"............What a very confused and jumpy article...who writes this stuff... "Minitrue"?.

[webfact]

50 schools in Nan closed following flooding

Nan - Fifty schools in five districts of Nan were indefinitely closed after the province was hit with flooding.

Jatuporn Boonradom, the director of Nan's Education Zone 1, said it would be up to each school management to consider when to resume classes after the water recedes and subsequent cleanup is done.

-- The Nation 2011-06-27

[rakman]

"But we are trying to find out," he said, "The information will help us estimate quake risks in the future".

We're trying to live in Thailand, but they make it more and more difficult for all of us.............:jap:

strange the USSG reporting station has nothing..?? another news paper says the epicenter was in Hat Samram district wherever that is...this sounds like a whole lot of "prole feed"............What a very confused and jumpy article...who writes this stuff... "Minitrue"?.

Hat Samram is in south Trang Province on the west coast. The USGS did not record anything at all, let alone a 2.5 to 3.5 earthquake. Is someone testing large chemical explosions?

[thequietman]

christ ! this has been happening for the 8 years i have been living here. there are floods every year, deaths every year and still the thai government do nothing.

They buy submarines that wont work, they buy airships that dont work, they buy war planes with no guns, they buy bomb detectors that dont work, they build transit and rail systems that dont work, they fund an education system that doesnt work. billions pis*ed away. Will they take flood prevention measures ? the hell they will.

Talk to you again this time next year. I will just copy and paste and keep this on file.

[rubl]

BREAKINGNEWS

PM orders officials to rush to help to flood victims in Nan, Chiang Rai, Tak, Phayao

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Tuesday instructed the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department to speed up providing assistance to flood victims in Nan, Chiang Rai, Tak and Phayao, Deputy Government Spokesman Marut Matsayawanit said.

The Cabinet was Tuesday informed of the latest situation in the four northern provinces of the flooding, which saw two people killed in Tak.

The spokesman said the prime minister wanted the department to urgently help flood victims.

He said the Justice Ministry was also asked to help inmates after prisons in the provinces were flooded.

-- The Nation 2011-06-28

[rubl]

PM orders officials to rush to help to flood victims in Nan, Chiang Rai, Tak, Phayao

This may cause a dilemma for the PTP. Is this blatant vote-buying, or is this a caretaker PM doing his normal duties.