Thai PM Appeals For Unity Amid Flood Crisis

[Thai_Help]

I wonder now if that means the capture of crocodiles will increase more then one thousand baht?

[biplanebluey]

What can we say? Is there anyone on Earth who would be able to fight Mother Nature when she chooses to take her revenge?

IT'S CALLED FORWARD PLANNING-----OR------ LONG TERM STRATEGY-------- Easy really if you have the money and USE IT FOR WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FOR------Dougal

[Neurath]

Instead of pointing fingers, stick them in a dyke. If, that is, they let you.

[angeledge]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

[Insight]

I hope she realise that as the PM, that statement will send people into panic. Not responsible, someone else should say ot - not her.

People have been panicking since the whole "Evacuate Don Muang!!! Oh hang on.... mai roo...." affair.

[emstee22]

Does anyone here know if the floods have affected air travel at all? Im supposed to fly back to bangkok tomorrow but I'm a little worried about the situation there and haven't been able to find any info on whether or not flights have been affected.

[gl555]

Does anyone here know if the floods have affected air travel at all? Im supposed to fly back to bangkok tomorrow but I'm a little worried about the situation there and haven't been able to find any info on whether or not flights have been affected.

The airport seems safe for now so I doubt your flight will be cancelled. I would suggest leaving a few hours earlier though just in case...

[RegularReader]

they should engage the army, with their equipment and manpower, from the very beginning. They have hundreds of thousands doing nothing, but highly organised, structure. Generals are probably waiting to be bribed off to offer some help.

No need for such a snide remark about the army.

If you've been here any length of time, you'd know until this became a real emergency, Thai politics had more to do with excluding the army than anything else.

[hardy1943]

'"Today I will frankly tell you the truth. I have left no stone unturned in this crisis but I cannot solve it alone. I need cooperation from all sides," a teary-eyed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters.'

---------

As of today, perhaps. But she should have started turning them over weeks ago.

do not blame her, blame the last 20 years of bad governement: earthen dikes???

are they still living in the stone age??

Gee

Right on!!!

[webfact]

PM pleads for cooperation in flood crisis

BANGKOK, Oct 19 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday urged all parties to unite to fight flood crisis and pledged to improve flood warnings and information from the government's Flood Relief Operations Centre to prevent confusion among members of the public.

The prime minister denied that her government is covering up flood information, saying the government has put all out efforts to tackle the crisis.

"This is the major crisis of the nation. I cannot cope with it alone but (can do it only with the) full cooperation from all parties are in need. We must leave politics behind but sort out the problem for our people and boost their morale," Ms Yingluck told reporters with teary eyes.

The premier made her plea as floodwaters from the North were poised to threaten the capital amid confusion and sometimes panic among the public over FROC's daily update on latest flood situation.

An opinion poll shows a majority of respondents do not trust the credibility of news coming from the flood centre.

Flooding in the North, Northeast and Central plains has killed at least 317 people since August, mostly from drowning, with more than 2 million people affected and 27 out of 77 provinces are being submerged.

The country's worst flood in decades damaged 10.3 million rais of farmland in the world's top rice exporter. Initial estimates of the economic toll from the disaster were 1-1.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The cabinet on Tuesday approved an increase in the budget deficit to Bt400 billion ($13 billion) for the 2012 fiscal year starting Oct 1 to fund the post-flood rehabilitation. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-10-19

[harryn]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

Yes I remember all the Farangs who were helping after the Tsunami were told that they had to apply for work permits or stop helping. This was despite the fact that people were dying and the Farangs were volunteering and didn't receive any money for their work. I was just speechless at the time but nothing has changed since then..

[Buchholz]

Former Thai Rak Thai executive Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan

She said the crisis prompted her to step in to provide advice.

Discouraging to learn that the former Bird Flu Cover-Up Minister is stepping into the fray.

Will she be advising on how best to cover-up the ineffective flood control measures of the current administration?

Pray tell me how the previous administration had better flood control measures....

True, her Thai Rak Thai government was no better with flood control measures, but they did excel at concealment in regards to public health issues.

.

[Crushdepth]

'"Today I will frankly tell you the truth. I have left no stone unturned in this crisis but I cannot solve it alone. I need cooperation from all sides," a teary-eyed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters.'

---------

As of today, perhaps. But she should have started turning them over weeks ago.

do not blame her, blame the last 20 years of bad governement: earthen dikes???

are they still living in the stone age??

Gee

Right on!!!

Its the pathetically disorganised response to the crisis thar she wears the blame for. And it is well deserved, if not unexpected. You dont get great leaders through nepotism, you get lightweights, idiots and schmucks.

[MunterHunter]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

Pretty sure if you turn up and offer to help, you will be welcomed with open arms...

Cant promise anything however, but lets be honest here... they need all the people they can get

[Buchholz]

Former Thai Rak Thai executive Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan

She said the crisis prompted her to step in to provide advice.

Discouraging to learn that the former Bird Flu Cover-Up Minister is stepping into the fray.

Will she be advising on how best to cover-up the ineffective flood control measures of the current administration?

amazing; right on cue...

The prime minister denied that her government is covering up flood information

[KhunVee]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

Pretty sure if you turn up and offer to help, you will be welcomed with open arms...

Cant promise anything however, but lets be honest here... they need all the people they can get

NOT!

During the Tsunami relief efforts (Only days after the event), the foreigners (volunteers: e.g.: EMT's on holiday here) where ordered to get a work permit or to stop "working" = "helping" people in distress or facing extradition + a fine.

Thai Logics!!!

Edited October 19, 2011 by KhunVee

[MunterHunter]

NOT!

During the Tsunami relief efforts (Only days after the event), the foreigners (volunteers: e.g.: EMT's on holiday here) where ordered to get a work permit or to stop "working" = "helping" people in distress or facing extradition + a fine.

Thai Logics!!!

I'm also qualified to do boot trips and house calls as a Paramedic,.... but I'm worried to do so outside my mooban.

i was living in Phuket at the time of the tsunami, and i was talking to one of the people that got caught, they were taken directly to the labour office, where the work permits were issued in around an hour, then they were taken back to where they were picked up... nobody was arrested and nobody even saw a jail cell (never mind get locked up)

The Thai's love their red tape, but they are not the monsters some people paint them as .

[londonthai]

You got the first half right but not your conclusion. The Army was begging the PM to declare a SOE so they might more widely deploy their assets to mitigate the flood and provide relief to those afeected. The PM demurred and instead used smaller units and put them under the comtrol of incompetent politicians, with the result being what you see now.

soe is not necessary, if there is no destroying barriers or looting of abandoned properties. It should not be used as a condition to engage army in the preventative and rescue help.

it should be the governmental departments (irrigation, health) telling the army where the help, and not the army running their own actions, which might be contradictory to what the grand plan is.

[Buchholz]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

Yes I remember all the Farangs who were helping after the Tsunami were told that they had to apply for work permits or stop helping. This was despite the fact that people were dying and the Farangs were volunteering and didn't receive any money for their work. I was just speechless at the time but nothing has changed since then..

the law is the law...

Tsunami volunteers warned: get work permits

PHUKET: Foreign volunteers assisting in tsunami-related charity work are required to hold work permits, regardless of whether they are being paid for their efforts or not.

Sayan Chuaiyjan, head of the Phuket Provincial Employment Service Office [ESO], told the Gazette yesterday that there could be no exceptions and that his office would begin to enforce the regulations soon – possibly in March.

“There can be no exceptions. Work is work, even if it is for charity,” he said.

He urged relief workers to apply for work permits, adding that those working for recognized charitable organizations would find them easy to obtain.

“They can just present a document certified by the charity organization they work for and we will issue them with work permits, then they will be able to work legally,” he said.

He pointed out that any foreigner caught working with out a work permit is liable to hefty punishment.

“If our officers, police officers or immigration police learn [of foreign volunteers] who don’t have work permits, the maximum penalty is three years in jail, a 30,000 baht fine [or both],” he warned.

“We did not enforce this law too rigidly [in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami], because we knew that everyone wanted to help out.

“But now that the situation is returning to normal, we will have to start taking it more seriously,” he said, adding that a crackdown could begin as early as next month.

Phuket Vice-Governor Winai Buapradit, who is charged with overseeing work permit procedures in the province, agreed with the ESO stance and said that the law needed to be enforced both in Phuket and throughout Thailand.

“Now that the post-tsunami relief operations are slowing down, they should have work permits to continue working. Otherwise, government officials will have no idea what they are actually doing here – and this could result in trouble in the future,” he said this morning.

[Buchholz]

*double post

Edited October 19, 2011 by Buchholz

[robsamui]

"Horrid, horrid, horrid," said Yingluck stamping her foot. "Oh how I hate it all."

R

[givenall]

Translation: "I give up."

Then let's have your letter of resignation ASAP

Edited October 19, 2011 by metisdead
Font reset to default forum font.

[gl555]

You got the first half right but not your conclusion. The Army was begging the PM to declare a SOE so they might more widely deploy their assets to mitigate the flood and provide relief to those afeected. The PM demurred and instead used smaller units and put them under the comtrol of incompetent politicians, with the result being what you see now.

soe is not necessary, if there is no destroying barriers or looting of abandoned properties. It should not be used as a condition to engage army in the preventative and rescue help.

it should be the governmental departments (irrigation, health) telling the army where the help, and not the army running their own actions, which might be contradictory to what the grand plan is.

Look at the 'grand plan' and see how much it has helped so far.

[drdoom6996]

"The laws would give the authorities the power to forcibly evacuate people or ban them from certain roads or other places. The government has said the decree is not necessary and would hurt investor confidence".

What investor confidence is it that she is talking about.

[tominbkk]

She needs to give her power to someone who has the fortitude to get the job done. Tears won't save her this time. That way she can have time to revel at concerts while her country drowns.

[nocturn]

I am trained to rescue people and deliver first aid. I would like so much to help. Sadly, my visa dont give me the right to work. Sad but even with tears in her eyes, i can not do something else than watching those people.

Yes I remember all the Farangs who were helping after the Tsunami were told that they had to apply for work permits or stop helping. This was despite the fact that people were dying and the Farangs were volunteering and didn't receive any money for their work. I was just speechless at the time but nothing has changed since then..

i truly wish people like you would get over themselves and add something creative to the debate.

I seek real information not smug finger pointing and half-assed work permit jokes

[renaissanc]

I'm annoyed that my home may be flooded because of incompetent leaders. I hope that when all this is over, the people realize that selling their votes to elect a government whose sole purpose is to repatriate Thaksin; which understands disunity and the blame-game more than teamwork; whose Ministers listen to the de facto Prime Minister in Dubai more than to Thaksin's clone who lacks courage and statesmanship qualities; which really hasn't a clue what to do in a crisis; which in spite of the crisis continues to divide the country behind the scenes by creating a Red Shirt Village Federation, by filling all key positions with Thaksin's cronies and family members, and by bringing in Robert Amsterdam to find ways to get revenge on the Army which the government needs to solve the crisis; was a very bad mistake. When the next election comes around perhaps they might use other criteria than silly and empty promises and money gifts to choose their next government. Have I missed anything out?

[Buchholz]

Translation: "I give up."

Then let's have your letter of resignation ASAP

And let the decisive Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm fill the shoes.

[drdoom6996]

they should engage the army, with their equipment and manpower, from the very beginning. They have hundreds of thousands doing nothing, but highly organised, structure. Generals are probably waiting to be bribed off to offer some help.

You got the first half right but not your conclusion. The Army was begging the PM to declare a SOE so they might more widely deploy their assets to mitigate the flood and provide relief to those afeected. The PM demurred and instead used smaller units and put them under the comtrol of incompetent politicians, with the result being what you see now.

If you look up incompetent in a Thai dictionary it say Thai Politicians.

[kennalder]

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Wednesday urged all parties to unite to fight flood crisis and pledged to improve flood warnings and information from the government's Flood Relief Operations Centre to prevent confusion among members of the public.

It would seem she's got a lot of ground to make up specifically in those regards...

79 per cent said the government's support was insufficient and not distributed efficiently; and 68.6 per cent said the flood relief supplies themselves did not sufficiently meet victims' needs.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4754920

AND

As much as 86.2 percent of the respondents still have no clear understanding as to whether their areas are flood-prone even after the updates, while 89.2 percent find the updates confusing. About 87 percent don't trust the information from the FROC.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4774109

I'm guessing at least 90% of those people couldn't find Bangkok on a map, let alone read the map and see where the flooding is likely to be.