Lethargy Over Water Woes Will Hurt Thai Govt

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BURNING ISSUE

Lethargy over water woes will hurt govt

AVUDH PANANANDA

THE NATION

Water power is formidable, and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra may be drowned in the floods if her government continues to toy with such a powerful force of nature.

After months of heavy rain, Yingluck has just realised the severity of excess water. On Sunday, she paid attention for the first time to draining run-off into the sea and evacuating flood victims. It is almost too late because run-off has already started arriving in Bangkok.

Although the government has set a top priority to tackle seasonal floods since August, Yingluck's inspection trips were photo opportunities rather than any serious attempt at water management.

Thailand has had plenty of warning signs about climate change, resulting in unusual rain.

From 2008, the country recorded plentiful rain above the 30-year average compiled by the Meteorological Department. Last year saw the worst flooding in recent memory. Some 39 provinces and about 2 million people were affected by severe floods, which killed 180 people.

This year, above-average rain, particularly in the upper North - stricken by drought the year before - started from January. Flash floods and land-slides hit the South in March.

Abundant rain was recorded across the country with the advent of the rainy season in May.

In June, the first of five storms, Haima, dumped rain in the North. The second storm, Nock-Ten, came in July and rainfall broke the 60-year record in Nong Khai. Some 20 provinces and more than one million people were flooded. The casualties rose to 20 dead.

Yingluck began to address the inundation in August by appointing Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit as the man in charge.

Floods intensified and the water level in five major dams in the North climbed sharply while Yongyuth appointed four subcommittees in charge of mitigating the natural disaster.

As two storms, Nesat and Haitang, were poised to bring more rain in September, the Irrigation Department warned of looming disaster. The fifth storm, Nalgae, has caused heavy rainfall this month.

Of 33 big dams, 28 saw water retention at more than 80 per cent of capacity. Excess water must be released in order to accommodate more rainfall over remaining weeks of the season.

The department alerted farmers and provincial authorities in the Central region and the lower North to organise an early rice harvest in order to save crops.

The government carried on work in the flood-as-usual manner. The Hydrology and Water Management Office declared a red alert - a highest critical level 3 - on water management on September 5, but Yingluck and top government leaders did not acknowledge the crisis at hand.

On September 26, HM the King granted a royal audience for the prime minister to report on the floods. Yingluck told reporters that His Majesty was concerned about draining the excess water into the sea.

In the first week of October, Yingluck finally came to grips with the reality of the force of nature after Bhumibol Dam opened its emergency spillway for five consecutive days.

At 2am on Thursday, run-off was approaching Ayutthaya and the government was forced to make a split-second decision whether to save the Asian Highway or the Rojana Industrial Estate. Transport Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat took swift action to save the country's electronics hub.

Faced with the mighty water flow, Yingluck formed a new task force, dubbed the National Flood Relief Centre and led by Justice Minister Pracha Promnok. The centre, activated on Saturday, will supersede Yongyuth's 24/7 Emergency Operation Centre for Flood, Storm and Landslide.

By the time Yingluck began to talk about drainage, flooding had already spread to 30 provinces affecting 2.4 million people.

-- The Nation 2011-10-11

[rheinwiese]

This sum it up precisely.

[Bakseedaa]

This government care about one thing and one thing only..... Getting their boss home from Dubai... looks like he will be coming home in a boat... PTP will take care of themselves and no-one else... Yinluck is out-of-luck, her brother picked the wrong peoples for the jobs they have, and now their experience is shining through..! The peoples who voted them in are getting their just rewards... Bring on the rain... Thailand needs a good clean-out...

[tragickingdom]

At the very least Yingluck has boots on the ground. Abhisit was touring the floods in his snow-white shirt without even coming out of the boat one time. He was very good though in spending all of the money from the relief fund. Not on the people in Izan and the North though but on his potential voters in the South. The Nation is right. Water is a powerful force and if Yinglucks plays it right it could destroy the DP even further. The Nation is an exponent of the "old elite" they assume that Thai peasants are stupid. These affected people have shown that they do understand politics and everything what comes with it better than the editors from the Nation. They understand why the land is flooded, they understand why nothing has been done in 50 years to alleviate the problem and they understand who was in power when nothing was done. Pointing fingers to a government that is in power for months for having not done enough is the stupidest thing the Nation ever came up with, and that is really something because their daily newsletter lacks even the quality from a their grade school paper.

[Mosha]

At the very least Yingluck has boots on the ground. Abhisit was touring the floods in his snow-white shirt without even coming out of the boat one time. He was very good though in spending all of the money from the relief fund. Not on the people in Izan and the North though but on his potential voters in the South. The Nation is right. Water is a powerful force and if Yinglucks plays it right it could destroy the DP even further. The Nation is an exponent of the "old elite" they assume that Thai peasants are stupid. These affected people have shown that they do understand politics and everything what comes with it better than the editors from the Nation. They understand why the land is flooded, they understand why nothing has been done in 50 years to alleviate the problem and they understand who was in power when nothing was done. Pointing fingers to a government that is in power for months for having not done enough is the stupidest thing the Nation ever came up with, and that is really something because their daily newsletter lacks even the quality from a their grade school paper.

Remind me who was it attending a banquet in Myanmar while the North and Issan flooded? Probably took a call from Dubai to cancel her other trips.

[whybother]

[noahvail]

[Arkady]

Thaksin is doing damage limitation from Dubai by dusting off an old plan for investment in dams up North that was shelved as being too expensive during his own regime and presenting it to obsequious Thai journalists as if he just thought it up himself.

Jakaprob has had the gall to complain that the flooding has diverted attention from the pressing need to issue an amnesty to absolve himself and his boss from their crimes, so they can come home. Ha ha.

Definitely there is a price to pay for appointing ministers based on their standing in a corrupt political party or as rewards for favours done to the man. The Thai people are now paying this high price. Instead of scarce resources going to flood victims, they have a public spectacle of a grown man putting into a practice a "Knut rules the waves" fantasy with 1,000 barges that could be delivering flood relief. Meanwhile, another grown man, a Cambridge graduate to boot, wasted most of a day on a ceremony to propitiate a non-existent water spirit that only little kids could be expected to believe, while Bangkok awaits inundation that he should have spent the last year preparing for since the last floods instead of waiting until last week to order a few sand bags to plug gaping holes in the flood wall.