Thai Pm Scraps Foreign Trips Amid Flood Crisis

[Lite Beer]

Thai PM scraps foreign trips amid flood crisis

BANGKOK, October 9, 2011 (AFP) - Thailand's worst floods in decades have prompted the country's premier to postpone official visits to Singapore and Malaysia, a spokeswoman said on Sunday, as Bangkok braces for rising waters

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last week described the flooding, which has left more than 250 people dead and inundated huge swathes of the kingdom as a "serious crisis" and warned that the capital would not escape unscathed.

She was scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively as part of an introductory tour of the region after coming to power in August.

"The trips are postponed due to the floods," government spokeswoman Titima Chaisaeng told AFP.

More than two months of heavy rains have deluged provinces across northern and central Thailand and damaged the homes or livelihoods of millions of people, particularly farmers, according to the government.

Huge efforts are now under way to stop the waters from reaching low-lying Bangkok, home to 12 million people, prompting pleas from some residents north of the city for sluice gates to be raised to release floodwater.

Thailand's ancient capital Ayutthaya, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast and upriver of the capital has seen increasingly serious flooding in recent days after being partially waterlogged for several weeks.

Historic temples have been swamped and a large industrial estate, home to a slew of Japanese electronics and auto parts makers including car giant Honda, has started to flood.

Authorities are evacuating some 200 patients from Ayutthaya's hospital, according to Science and Technology minister Plodparsob Suraswadi, who signalled a new emphasis on moving people out of the path of flooding in provinces outside Bangkok.

"The plan will be focused on evacuation rather than fighting floods," he said.

Large amounts of run-off water is expected to reach Bangkok in mid-October, while high tides will make it harder for the floods to flow out to sea. More storms are also expected.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-10-09

[noahvail]

I give her points for deciding to stay home and tend to the Big Problem. However, I do think she should have postponed the Myanmar trip as well. It wasn't a good look, her attending a state dinner whilst millions of Thais were suffering from the floods.

[leo12345]

Its amazing. The Shitnawatra regime gets all the farmers to vote for them and then lets them suffer whilst all the Bangkok residents are bone dry. A great management system dedicated to rip off the poor with false hopes, while the rich stay clean and dry.

I hope the farmers now all realise that its all about number 1 and nobody else. Pardon me while i go to look for sand bags as everybody is out of stock.

[Lite Beer]

PM cancels overseas trips due to flood, orders evacuation in case of emergency

BANGKOK, Oct 9 – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra cancelled trips to Malaysia and Singapore, earlier scheduled next week due to the national flood situation while ordering immediate evacuation in case flooding cannot be contained.

Ms Yingluck said she and the foreign minister are worried about flooding in the country, so she cancelled trips to Malaysia and Singapore, earlier scheduled for Oct 11-12, to focus on helping people in the country as the first priority.

Chairing the meeting at the National Relief Flood Center in Don Mueang on Sunday morning, the prime minister was concerned over new storms approaching the country, ordering Nakhon Sawan, Chai Nat, Singburi, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi to build and reinforce dykes protecting the provincial seats and business areas.

The Ministry of Transport and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) were assigned to build a 34 kilometre-long flood prevention wall to the east of Bangkok.

Inspectors, the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, and provincial governors were tasked with cooperating to consider protecting important parts of each provinces and to evacuate locals immediately if the situation could not be contained. They will report their plans at their next meeting at 6 pm Sunday.

After the morning meeting, Ms Yingluck launched a caravans of trucks carrying 2,000 sets of flood relief supplies, 12 mobile toilets, 300 life jackets, 2,000 bottles of drinking water, 1,200 tents, and 65 boats to flood-stricken areas.

A working committee of police was tasked with evacuations and the Ministry of Interior was assigned to oversee flood relief operations in Lopburi and Nakhon Sawan.

A flood hotline set up by 1111 (press 5) has received more than 40,000 calls. Most callers asked for information while almost 500 callers asked for help with more than 200 having been assisted.

She also assigned the Ministry of Industry to protect industrial zones, saying about ten plants in the Rojana Industrial Estate have been affected by a damaged dyke but that the situation could be contained. The premier said calculations of the amount of water was not inaccurate, but that obstacles in building dykes had caused problems for flood prevention. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-10-09