Foreign Media Slam Thai Govt's Flood Management

[webfact]

Foreign Media Slam Govt's Flood Management

Business Week has reported that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra plans to win back confidence in her 12-week-old government with a 800 billion baht reconstruction package after Bangkok residents blamed her for an inadequate response to the country’s worst floods since 1942.

Business Week reported on Thailand's post-flood recovery plan that the government is planning to allocate 800 billion baht post-flood recovery budget.

Business Week also published Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan's comment that the government is just like a kid who starts walking and a strong wind blows and it might stumble, but then it needs to get up and start walking again.

The news magazine said the flood crisis has shaken the Yingluck Shinawatra government's popularity and the huge amount of flood rehabilitation budget is aimmed at regaining the trust of voters who have seen floods swamp their homes and shutter factories employing more than 600,000 workers.

Business Week went on to say that the Bank of Thailand last week slashed its 2011 economic growth forecast to 2.6 percent from 4.1 percent, expecting expansion to slow as the global economy weakens and the flood impact increases.

The report also claimed a survey by Assumption University, or ABAC Poll, which showed three-quarters of the respondents in Bangkok saw the administration’s relief efforts were inadequate and another ABAC poll surveying in 19 provinces rated the army and volunteers ahead of the government in dealing with the floods.

Business Week also said the Thai government has been giving confusing information such as when Yingluck said on October 13 that inner Bangkok would be protected by floodwalls.

She reversed course two weeks later, declaring public holidays and warning of a “50-50” chance downtown areas would see as much as 1.5 meters of water in low- lying spots.

The report also stated that some Cabinet members also fueled uncertainty.

On October 13, Science Minister Plodprasob Surassawadee warned residents in northern Bangkok to evacuate immediately, only to have colleagues retract the order a few hours later.

The next day, Justice Minister Pracha Promnok, who heads the flood relief center, said he would guarantee that Bangkok would not be affected.

-- Tan Network 2011-11-09

[Nisa]

Yingluck Banks on $26 Billion Plan After Flood ‘Stumble’

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-08/yingluck-banks-on-26-billion-plan-after-flood-stumble-.html

[Zamor]

Can't find the source link

I used: http://search.busine...e&u1=searchterm . . .

[Zamor]

Wow that was fast

Thanks

You must be a mind-reader ;-)

Yingluck Banks on $26 Billion Plan After Flood 'Stumble'

http://www.businessw...d-stumble-.html

[culicine]

Now's her chance to show just 'business-like' she really is - afterall that's her selling point, just like her brother's.

[givenall]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailandto see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy waythat the government present themselves

[prasatrandy]

1 for you, 1,000,000 for me. Sounds like someone is going to get rich...er.

[FangFerang]

Yes, yes, yes--the finger-pointing has begun. We have two sides with stupid oppositions in place. The Governor of the BMA saying he is 80% sure that 22 districts will see no floods. Then he is 80% sure 11 districts will not flood (more on this clown later). We have the current government saying all will be well...eventually (equally stupid, and obvious).

This problem has been a long time in the making. It is the current government's misfortune in having it happen on their watch. Period. Anything else is waving banners for Our Side, and redundantly hypocritical. The water is here, and still coming, and no one can fix that. Blame game tactics are insipid, self-serving and convenient. Nothing from previous governments is in place to help this mess. It seems very silly to hear anyone say--"Hey, we criticize you because you have no options", when the lack of options were INHERITED.

And how is this for a teaser--there are seven kilometers of already-dried cement forms cast and in place for the highway to the "old" Don Meung airport in place and ready to be moved by crane and already paid for that would make a very pretty series of flood wall barriers for quite some distance (almost art nouveau, if done properly), and at almost no cost. Further, these unfinished highway cement forms are not mortared in place, gravity keeps them where they are, and they can be moved with nothing but a crane. I am sure you have seen them, they are the uprights put in place to support a road that never happened. That road will never be finished, so USE the cement forms to prevent this happening again. I hope this idea carries...lots of cement not doing anything that could actually accomplish something and already paid for seems a good option to me. And while they are at it, grab ALL the cast concrete that is already laid for roads that will never be finished, and we have a good and economical solution to the NEXT flood (and more are coming). Why not? Use the resources available.

Edited November 9, 2011 by metisdead
Speculation, comments and discussion of either a political or personal nature are not allowed when discussing HM The King or the Royal family.

[hellodolly]

Yes, yes, yes--the finger-pointing has begun. We have two sides with stupid oppositions in place. The Governor of the BMA saying he is 80% sure that 22 districts will see no floods. Then he is 80% sure 11 districts will not flood (more on this clown later). We have the current government saying all will be well...eventually (equally stupid, and obvious).

This problem has been a long time in the making. It is the current government's misfortune in having it happen on their watch. Period. Anything else is waving banners for Our Side, and redundantly hypocritical. The water is here, and still coming, and no one can fix that. Blame game tactics are insipid, self-serving and convenient. Nothing from previous governments is in place to help this mess. It seems very silly to hear anyone say--"Hey, we criticize you because you have no options", when the lack of options were INHERITED.

And how is this for a teaser--there are seven kilometers of already-dried cement forms cast and in place for the highway to the "old" Don Meung airport in place and ready to be moved by crane and already paid for that would make a very pretty series of flood wall barriers for quite some distance (almost art nouveau, if done properly), and at almost no cost. Further, these unfinished highway cement forms are not mortared in place, gravity keeps them where they are, and they can be moved with nothing but a crane. I am sure you have seen them, they are the uprights put in place to support a road that never happened. That road will never be finished, so USE the cement forms to prevent this happening again. I hope this idea carries...lots of cement not doing anything that could actually accomplish something and already paid for seems a good option to me. And while they are at it, grab ALL the cast concrete that is already laid for roads that will never be finished, and we have a good and economical solution to the NEXT flood (and more are coming). Why not? Use the resources available.

Exlent post

"yes the lack of options were INHERITED."

For sure they were but that does not excuse the lying and stupidity.

[LuckyLew]

No one in Thailand cares what the foreign media says or writes

Thai people cannot read write or speak English or any other foreign language

Leaders here only care about how much they will be able to add to their coffers

when it comes time to divide the aid money

[mca]

It must be said that TAN are slightly disingenuous when it comes to their article titles. Although I suppose " Business Week Simply Reports What People Are Saying About The Government's Flood Relief Efforts " has slightly less appeal than the Daily Mail-esque "Foreign Media Slam Govt's Flood Management"

[aaaaaa]

No one in Thailand cares what the foreign media says or writes

Thai people cannot read write or speak English or any other foreign language

Leaders here only care about how much they will be able to add to their coffers

when it comes time to divide the aid money

you're right !

more than that, a large portion of population (if not majority) can't afford neither to purchase a decent PC, nor to pay monthly for high speed internet. and even if (hypothetically) someone would have provided them with that as a gift or charity, many people simply won't be able to afford to spend so much time on browsing internet, read news (even Thai) and participate in various discussion boards and social networks (FB, twitter, etc)

thus, foreign media and even Thai media has very little or non impact on them. only TV to some extent.

Edited November 9, 2011 by aaaaaa

[nikster]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailandto see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy waythat the government present themselves

Huh? I think everyone in Thailand knows the govt' <Snip!> up and keeps <Snip!> up. But there's probably also a sense that the government for all it's crazy incompetence is not to blame for the flood waters per se - nature did that. It's a 50 year flood. Massive quantities of water can't simply be wished away.

It's my belief that even a perfect, professional response would see much of BKK under water. So a more competent government could have warned everyone more and earlier, and organized the "living within a flooded city" much better, but couldn't actually have prevented the flooding. Likewise a professional team would probably get the water our a few days or a week sooner than these guys can do.

Even I don't care what BusinessWeek thinks of this government so I doubt any Thai would. We have much more information here than they have, plus they have the pressure of making everything sound really exciting so they can sell some copies of their paper.

Implementing a restoration plan, and a future flood prevention plan is something that the government actually can do. While I don't have high hopes it's not been done yet, and they shall be judged on that a year or two from now. Given the direct economic impact of the floods on the power elite's business interests I think they'll certainly try as hard as they can.

Edited November 9, 2011 by metisdead
Expletives removed.

[nikster]

It must be said that TAN are slightly disingenuous when it comes to their article titles. Although I suppose " Business Week Simply Reports What People Are Saying About The Government's Flood Relief Efforts " has slightly less appeal than the Daily Mail-esque "Foreign Media Slam Govt's Flood Management"

LOL - well said!

Edited November 9, 2011 by metisdead
Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes.

[nikster]

No one in Thailand cares what the foreign media says or writes

Not too different from any other country. Do you think anyone in the US cares what the foreign media writes?

In this case, BusinessWeek isn't reporting anything that people in Thailand don't already know...

[Gweiloman]

The title of this thread bears little to no relevance to the actual article. Who's responsible for this sort of mis-reporting? Shouldn't titles be moderated as well?

In any case, I doubt very much if anyone in Thailand cares what the foreign media thinks.

[whybother]

<snip>

And how is this for a teaser--there are seven kilometers of already-dried cement forms cast and in place for the highway to the "old" Don Meung airport in place and ready to be moved by crane and already paid for that would make a very pretty series of flood wall barriers for quite some distance (almost art nouveau, if done properly), and at almost no cost. Further, these unfinished highway cement forms are not mortared in place, gravity keeps them where they are, and they can be moved with nothing but a crane. I am sure you have seen them, they are the uprights put in place to support a road that never happened. That road will never be finished, so USE the cement forms to prevent this happening again. I hope this idea carries...lots of cement not doing anything that could actually accomplish something and already paid for seems a good option to me. And while they are at it, grab ALL the cast concrete that is already laid for roads that will never be finished, and we have a good and economical solution to the NEXT flood (and more are coming). Why not? Use the resources available.

I think you will find that these upright "cement structures" are cemented in place VERY WELL. They have been there for 15 years. They were part of a train project to to Don Mueang that went broke.

Edited November 10, 2011 by whybother

[Gonsalviz]

I think that you farang should F off.

Yes. I know you live here.

Yes, I know you are having a difficult time.

Yes, it is all very frustrating.

Yes you are in a 3rd world country and you are all fuched.

My point is just that.

Floods happen everywhere that are out of control. They do not come under control until they subside. Some areas are flooded to keep more economical areas in operation. If you do not agree then I think you should move to Holland where all the experts reside. The Mississippi River has done this for many years and guess what? It is the same &lt;deleted&gt;. Suck it up bithches. Or move some where else.

[ResX]

The Governor of the BMA saying he is 80% sure that 22 districts will see no floods. Then he is 80% sure 11 districts will not flood (more on this clown later). We have the current government saying all will be well...eventually (equally stupid, and obvious).

.

Since the last 10- 15 years predicting the areas to be inundated by floods shall no longer be a guessing game. One of the most popular software to predict the areas that will be inundated as a result of flooding is MIKE 11. We have used this software to study the areas will be inundated for the worst case scenario, which is called the dam break scenario. We actually know for each particular dam the areas will inundated and by when that happens if the dam breaks. This helps us to prepare emergency response plan (ERP) to save life. All we know that there is no time can be spared to save properties. Our main objective is to save as many life as possible. Having workable dam break ERP for one of our dams could mean to save 250,000 life. I think the number could be much bigger for Thailand.

There is another alternative that we can actually simulate accurately "the characteristics of traveling flood waters", i.e. via Computational Fluid Dynamics software (CFD). There are many brands in the market. The underlying principle is by using Never-Stoke equations. This alternative requires special knowledge to work with.

I think the first thing Thailand has to acquire after this is MIKE 11 or its latest version.

Note. I have nothing to do with MIKE 11 software. I just wish to share information that I think useful with others.

[blade63]

I think that you farang should F off.

Yes. I know you live here.

Yes, I know you are having a difficult time.

Yes, it is all very frustrating.

Yes you are in a 3rd world country and you are all fuched.

My point is just that.

Floods happen everywhere that are out of control. They do not come under control until they subside. Some areas are flooded to keep more economical areas in operation. If you do not agree then I think you should move to Holland where all the experts reside. The Mississippi River has done this for many years and guess what? It is the same &lt;deleted&gt;. Suck it up bithches. Or move some where else.

lol

[plumeria]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailandto see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy waythat the government present themselves

Huh? I think everyone in Thailand knows the govt' <Snip!> up and keeps <Snip!> up. But there's probably also a sense that the government for all it's crazy incompetence is not to blame for the flood waters per se - nature did that. It's a 50 year flood. Massive quantities of water can't simply be wished away.

It's my belief that even a perfect, professional response would see much of BKK under water. So a more competent government could have warned everyone more and earlier, and organized the "living within a flooded city" much better, but couldn't actually have prevented the flooding. Likewise a professional team would probably get the water our a few days or a week sooner than these guys can do.

Even I don't care what BusinessWeek thinks of this government so I doubt any Thai would. We have much more information here than they have, plus they have the pressure of making everything sound really exciting so they can sell some copies of their paper.

Implementing a restoration plan, and a future flood prevention plan is something that the government actually can do. While I don't have high hopes it's not been done yet, and they shall be judged on that a year or two from now. Given the direct economic impact of the floods on the power elite's business interests I think they'll certainly try as hard as they can.

Nobody could have more brilliantly managed the water in a more self-serving and exploitive way that benefited the rich and business elite while firmly establishing a feudal system with the Shinatwats at the apex. All Thais know what position in this country he really wants to have. Fortunately, there's a good man still sitting in that seat.

Normally you manage to sound quite fair-minded and impartial and objective but your agenda's slightly showing this time.

All this was planned and orchestrated, not accidental and uncontrollable. A play with fairly convincing acting.

And OF COURSE they'll "try as hard as they can" from this point onward to reap the maximum benefit short term and long term. They've got to stay in charge to reap the payback.

I know their spin doctors and "strategic communications consultants" and they are are world class. They are PLENTY smart.

So I just look at what's coming out of the mouths of the PM & other leaders, add what I know about the folks crafting their strategic communications, and a nice algorithm instantly emerges that translates the spin into easy to understand English or Thai.

NOTHING is what it seems. Nothing they say is what it appears.

Anyone who does not dissect and interpret and critically examine every statement of the government will NOT be able to avoid being herded and brainwashed -- Thai or farang or alien or whatever.

Taksin's "strategic communications consultants" are some of the brightest people I have ever met so all TVF members have been warned.

MANY TVM members are also very, very clever people who are NOT easily deceived.

MANY comments by many members have a lot of merit and contain excellent insight.

Sure some are high as a kite or bombed out of their mind or totally clueless or extreme right or extreme left but so what? It gives us all some comic relief in this spot of bother.

And a smart statement looks super smart when it immediately follows one really off the wall. This is a great forum.

And Dear ResX ... thank you for providing the details and the proof this was not uncontrollable or unmanageable.

As I mentioned somewhere on TVF many days ago, Thailand already has this type of modeling software. I've edited the evaluations the PhD's wrote analyzing the results.

There are many highly intelligent, well trained and well educated Thais expert in water management.

There are many highly intelligent, well trained and well educated Thais expert in water management.

There are many highly intelligent, well trained and well educated Thais expert in water management.

So ... none of this can be an accident.

[Buchholz]

I think that you farang should F off.

Yes. I know you live here.

Yes, I know you are having a difficult time.

Yes, it is all very frustrating.

Yes you are in a 3rd world country and you are all fuched.

My point is just that.

Floods happen everywhere that are out of control. They do not come under control until they subside. Some areas are flooded to keep more economical areas in operation. If you do not agree then I think you should move to Holland where all the experts reside. The Mississippi River has done this for many years and guess what? It is the same &lt;deleted&gt;. Suck it up bithches. Or move some where else.

lol

+1

[fasteddie]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailand to see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy way that the government present themselves

Problem is, Thais couldn't care less what anybody else thinks of them! and if you seriously think the very un-democratic democrats could of done any better, you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

[ThaiOats]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailand to see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy way that the government present themselves

Problem is, Thais couldn't care less what anybody else thinks of them! and if you seriously think the very un-democratic democrats could of done any better, you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

If that's what it takes, I wouldn't mind calling it "the Cuckoo Thailand".

[whybother]

I hope this is translated to Thai for everyone in Thailand to see what the outsider think about this government, instead of all rosy way that the government present themselves

Problem is, Thais couldn't care less what anybody else thinks of them! and if you seriously think the very un-democratic democrats could of done any better, you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

The undemocratic Democrats that called, organised and ran a fair election ....

That was very undemocratic of them.