Nearly 3 out of 4 Bangkokians says govt help for flood victims not sufficient in all areas: Poll

BANGKOK, Oct 30 – As flooding continues in the capital, a poll found that 74.9% of Bangkok residents said the operations of the government and state agencies to help flood victims did not cover all areas.

However, 61.9% of respondents said they would give a chance to let Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra continued working on solving the flood crisis, according to the Asssumption University's ABAC Poll released on Sunday.

Noppadol Kannikar, the ABAC Poll director revealed the poll results for ‘Grievance, Sacrifice and Giving the Government a Chance to Tackle Flood’ conducted among 1,457 Bangkok residents from October 28-29.

The majority, or 77.4%, were bored, stressed and worried about the flood problem. Slightly less, or 76.9%, said it was inconvenient for commuting in the city and 66.8% said they felt unsafe for their lives and properties.

Interestingly, 63.8% said they were not willing to evacuate or travel to other provinces to escape flooding because they are worried about their homes and belonging or needed to stay to take care of the elderly and small children.

However, what a majority wanted from the prime minister to help flood victims was to urgently improve operations of the police, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA).

Meanwhile, 70.2% said they wanted the prime minister to order help to access all areas and to ensure officials treat flood victims impartially, and 68.4% wanted her to solve the problem of increased consumer goods prices. About 65% said they wanted to see arrests of looters in flood–hit areas.

Furthermore, 40.6% said they felt very confident in the government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) tackling the flood problem, as 22.8% said they were confident and 23.9% said they were skeptical and 12.7% said they were not confident at all.

Regarding positive observations during the flood crisis, most poll respondents, or 89.4%, said they saw great support and generosity of their compatriots.

Meanwhile, a poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University or Suan Dusit Poll showed that Bangkok residents thought that Bangkok would be protected from flood, as it was the capital city and main economic zone.

Suan Dusit Poll surveyed public opinion of 2,136 residents of Bangkok and provinces that were affected by flooding as well as flood victims that moved to stay at shelters. The poll was conducted over the period of Oct 26-29.

According to the poll, 37.83% of the respondents said they did not think Bangkok would be flooded, while 33.57% were unsure because of confusing information, as some groups confirmed Bangkok would be hit by flood while some groups said the capital could avoid it.

Some 28.60% said they believed Bangkok would flood because of the huge amount of water, as surrounding provinces were flooded and it could overflow to Bangkok.

Asked whether they would evacuate if their homes were inundated, 68.07% said they would not move out because they did not want to leave their homes behind to thieves and because of difficulty in transportation.

As for relief aid, 84.88% said they received assistances from the military, followed by mass media-80.24%; 71.11% from the government, and 70.22% from Bangkok Governor, officials and volunteers.

Most respondents, or 93.19%, said the military has devoted themselves in tackling flood crisis; followed by the premier, mass media, BMA and government officials with 91.06, 88.48, 73.97 and 71.63% respectively. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-10-30

If I may hazard a guess at to the reason for the difficulty in distributing relief goods - I think its because of the flood.

Isn't that a complete failure of the new PM? ........

As for me myself, I found that common Thai ppl were/are much, MUCH helpful in this situation then the govt officials.

More than a week with waters, I hardly see ANY govt support or even ANYONE in sight.

All they did is daily flying around on their white helicopters over submerged moobaans, and that's it.

They better provide that helicopter's fuel to those who need emergency evacuations or something...

And Thai Royal Army was also helpful - they organized shuttle cars (big khaki army cars) in the affected areas for those who wanna leave, and soldiers were somehow not smiling - but yet helpful.

Govt officials? Haven't seen any in sight since the whole story turned to be the disaster. Even common police are gone from their boots/police stations. A looter's paradise!

Nearly 3 out of 4 Bangkokians says govt help for flood victims not sufficient in all areas: Poll

Is this a Bangkokian opinion on the govt help for the entire country over the past 3-4 months or just an opinion peculiar to Bangkok and it's whole 3-4 days of flood drama?

Nearly 3 out of 4 Bangkokians says govt help for flood victims not sufficient in all areas: Poll

Is this a Bangkokian opinion on the govt help for the entire country over the past 3-4 months or just an opinion peculiar to Bangkok and it's whole 3-4 days of flood drama?

Shall we compare 1sq.km of upcountry rice fields with 1sq.qm of inner Bangkok - in terms of importance, possible losses (as a result of wealth of the residents/businesses) and interfering to the country's recovery speed in the nearest future?

Just a question, not a flame you know.

Flooding upcountry IS the disaster, yes. People died there, same ppl as in Bkk. And every piece of land IS important and must be under close watch, yes

But try to watch to tomorrow: will the complete flooding of, say, Kon Kaen comparable to the complete flooding of Bangkok, and how long the country will recover in both cases?

Isn't that a complete failure of the new PM? ........

From the beginning till the end if it ever ends

1. Planning failure

2. Communications failure

3. intervention failure

4. Help and relief failure]

5. Etc. etc.

Nearly 3 out of 4 Bangkokians says govt help for flood victims not sufficient in all areas: Poll

Is this a Bangkokian opinion on the govt help for the entire country over the past 3-4 months or just an opinion peculiar to Bangkok and it's whole 3-4 days of flood drama?

Bangkok residents from yesterday and the day before.

Regarding positive observations during the flood crisis, most poll respondents, or 89.4%, said they saw great support and generosity of their compatriots.

Sweet !

But still, how did they get 10.6% of the respondents from TVF?