Flood Compensation Payments Approved: Thailand

[webfact]

Flood compensation payments approved

The Nation

The Flood Recovery and Restoration Committee has approved the Bt1.1 billion flood compensation for Bangkok residents and another Bt10 billion for flood-hit villagers.

Deputy Prime Minister and committee chair Yongyuth Wichaidit said some 640,000 Bangkok residents would be entitled for Bt5,000 compensation per family.

Next week the city authorities would start distributing leadlets advising the flood-hit residents on how to apply for the compensation which will paid out by the Government Savings Bank, he said.

In regard to houses destroyed partially or totally by the flooding, the government has yet to map out the compensation guidelines, he said.

For Bangkok residents who live in condominiums surrounded by floodwater and could not travel to work, he said the compensation would not apply.

He said the city administration has a direct responsibility to speed up the drainage of floodwater in the capital.

The central government did not interfere with flood control under the city jurisdiction, he said.

He urged the city authorities to rely on financial and drainage capabilities in doing their job instead of passing the blame to the central government.

"The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has the funds to buy more pumps," he said, pointing out that the central government would assist on issues beyond the local capabilities.

-- The Nation 2011-11-11

[whybother]

He said the city administration has a direct responsibility to speed up the drainage of floodwater in the capital.

The central government did not interfere with flood control under the city jurisdiction, he said.

What was the Disaster Act enabled for? Did it get withdrawn?

[givenall]

They have to recover all that money Thaksin lost some way.5000 per flood is enough to wipe only the flood victim A$

And why the villagers get so much, I thought the flood effected mostly the cities

Edited November 11, 2011 by givenall

[DNPBC0]

He said the city administration has a direct responsibility to speed up the drainage of floodwater in the capital.

The central government did not interfere with flood control under the city jurisdiction, he said.

What was the Disaster Act enabled for? Did it get withdrawn?

There does seem to be considerable confusion about the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act 2007. To refresh everyone's memories, an English translation of the Act is here:

http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0397.pdf

Of course, as is usually the case in Thailand, there are two jokers in the pack: (1) how accurate the English translation is, and (2) how far the provisions of the Act can be ignored or bent by Thais.

If the translation is accurate, then my understanding is that under s.15 the BMA Governor has the responsibility for disaster prevention and mitigation in his own area until, and unless, he is over-ruled by the Commander in Chief (the PM says she is that?) under s.13.

[sirchai]

They have to recover all that money Thaksin lost some way.5000 per flood is enough to wipe only the flood victim A$

And why the villagers get so much, I thought the flood effected mostly the cities

Nothing seems to be right. A woman here in the lower north-east has just received 15,000 baht for one "flooded" rice field. Parents are money sharks, father a teacher, but actually not teaching, too busy lending money and ripping lots of people off.

All the cash that comes in for the poor will stay in their business.

It doesn't really matter if there's crop in it or not when you're red and parents filthy rich, because THEY take the cash supposed to be for the people who really need it......

[whybother]

They have to recover all that money Thaksin lost some way.5000 per flood is enough to wipe only the flood victim A$

And why the villagers get so much, I thought the flood effected mostly the cities

Nothing seems to be right. A woman here in the lower north-east has just received 15,000 baht for one "flooded" rice field. Parents are money sharks, father a teacher, but actually not teaching, too busy lending money and ripping lots of people off.

All the cash that comes in for the poor will stay in their business.

It doesn't really matter if there's crop in it or not when you're red and parents filthy rich, because THEY take the cash supposed to be for the people who really need it......

@ givenall - Most people that have been affected are outside Bangkok.

@ Sirchai - Wasn't there a payment for farmers per rai? Of course, the government probably aren't doing much in the way of checking if your "farm" was "flooded".

[nong38]

I am in Nakhon Sawan, the g/f sells fruit by the side of the road under a canopy, when the flood hit the town, she locked what she could rode off as quick as she could she could see the wall of water coming. When we went to look at the damage, everything was piled up at the one end and no good anymore. She does not expect to get any compensation at all. She has bought replacements and spent about 4000-5000ts not accounting for the fruit she lost. No one has got any paperwork for receipts, there was a flood, so it looks like she will just have to get on with it. I dont understand why she should be treated any different than a farmer, the loses are the loses but what can she do?

[Colabamumbai]

And I would bet that if you were a foreigner in a house in the affected areas you would get squat.

[BlackJack]

very generous

NOT

ok split that with a family of 5 that lost all

no money left for food -ZIP

miracle Thailand

[Lingba]

5000 baht!!!!?????.......Oh how generous!

[gregb]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

[Buchholz]

Good report on the myriad of the restrictive conditions and multiple documents necessary to wade through the bureaucratic flood of requirements in order to receive the flood compensation in the other paper this morning.

.

[gregb]

Good report on the myriad of the restrictive conditions and multiple documents necessary to wade through the bureaucratic flood of requirements in order to receive the flood compensation in the other paper this morning.

.

And according to that article, you need to complete this gauntlet by Nov. 22 in order to be eligible. Apparently no assistance will be given to those whose estates are still flooded on the 22nd and can't get to their houses to retrieve documents and take pictures.

As of this morning my house is still under approximately 2.5 meters of water according to my neighbor. It is going down extremely slowly. Probably nothing more than due to seepage and evaporation. You think that kind of water is just going to disappear in 10 days?

All governments are incompetent to some degree, but these guys really deserve what will be coming to them.

[koosdeboer]

Good report on the myriad of the restrictive conditions and multiple documents necessary to wade through the bureaucratic flood of requirements in order to receive the flood compensation in the other paper this morning.

.

And according to that article, you need to complete this gauntlet by Nov. 22 in order to be eligible. Apparently no assistance will be given to those whose estates are still flooded on the 22nd and can't get to their houses to retrieve documents and take pictures.

As of this morning my house is still under approximately 2.5 meters of water according to my neighbor. It is going down extremely slowly. Probably nothing more than due to seepage and evaporation. You think that kind of water is just going to disappear in 10 days?

All governments are incompetent to some degree, but these guys really deserve what will be coming to them.

I'm waiting for "the old child" geriatrickid to defend the government. He will be here soon to defend his love yingluck and her followers.

[w11guy]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

Don't you have insurance? It should cover the total cost of the damage.

[Soutpeel]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

Don't you have insurance? It should cover the total cost of the damage.

Think you will find most inusurance polices will not cover floods...

[exeter]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

Don't you have insurance? It should cover the total cost of the damage.

I dont think many people have insurance in Thailand. I would not hold out much hope of them paying out esp to non Thais either, there will be some loophole "you did not understand."

I base this assessment on Thai Health Insurance I have seen and how warranties and faulty goods complaints are dealt with.

[robblok]

Yesterday the mayor of our Muh Bahn here in Bang Buathong came by giving everyone a paper to claim the 5000 Bt he said he will make sure it wont be to hard to claim. I must say here people have been great.

[sparebox2]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

If 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to your house, my estimation is that your house is woth between 5 to 10 millions.

If you can afford such house, shame on you if you go collect the 5,000 Baht.

It is ment for the poor people, especially poor rural famers outside Bangkok, and NOT rich Farangs.

[robblok]

At 5000 baht they might as well not even bother with their so called compensation payments. They compensate nothing. I will be joining the law suit against the government. There is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to my house. 5000 baht is insulting. My mother in law got 80,000 baht from the government 2 years ago for her flooded farms, and she suffered significantly less damage than us.

The government has allocated a meager 10 billion baht for flood victims. It better step that amount up to 500 billion or I'll be camping out in a yurt in the middle of Ratchaprasong intersection until they offer some real relief. You think the siege of the red shirts was bad? Try the siege of the pissed off homeowners who were asked to "save the capital" and then received nothing for their sacrifice.

If 500,000 and 1 million baht of damage to your house, my estimation is that your house is woth between 5 to 10 millions.

If you can afford such house, shame on you if you go collect the 5,000 Baht.

It is ment for the poor people, especially poor rural famers outside Bangkok, and NOT rich Farangs.

Maybe he is poor now having invested all his money in his home. So then he has just as much right as the Thais. I know i am claiming too. The money will either go to the wife or her mom. I dont need it and the wife could not work so needs money or her mom who lost a lot in rangsit.

[billd766]

I have no idea where this guy is getting his numbers from but taking the stated 640,000 people in Bangkok and giving each of them 5,000 baht comes to 3,200,000,000 baht and not the figure he has quoted.

His figures of 5,000 baht per person outside of Bangkok means that only 2,000,000 people were affected.

Of course the figures could be wrong and in error during translation from Thai to English, it could be the Nation was wrong in reporting or it could be that the guy has his figures completely bolloxed up.

I have no real idea and I suspect that he may not either.

I recall but have no link to say that around 9,000,000 Thais outside of Bangkok were affected but this figure may me incorrect also.

My excuse is that I am 67 and my memory is not what it once was.

However 10,000,000,000 baht wont fit 9,000,000 Thais.

Try 45,000,000,000 baht.

Edited because I was trying to get the figures right.

Edited November 12, 2011 by billd766

[somchaismith]

Has anyone concerned recieved this payment yet?

[Buchholz]

Nothing seems to be right. A woman here in the lower north-east has just received 15,000 baht for one "flooded" rice field. Parents are money sharks, father a teacher, but actually not teaching, too busy lending money and ripping lots of people off.

All the cash that comes in for the poor will stay in their business.

It doesn't really matter if there's crop in it or not when you're red and parents filthy rich, because THEY take the cash supposed to be for the people who really need it......

@ givenall - Most people that have been affected are outside Bangkok.

@ Sirchai - Wasn't there a payment for farmers per rai? Of course, the government probably aren't doing much in the way of checking if your "farm" was "flooded".

Nakhon Sawan Residents File Petition against Village Headman for Corruption

A number of locals in Nakhon Sawan Province have filed a petition with the provincial governor for a corruption probe into a village headman thought to have taken advantage of the flood compensation for affected farmers.

More than 300 local residents from Tah Mai Subdistrict of Chumsaeng District in Nakhon Sawan Province gathered at the city hall to submit a petition to Governor Chairoj Meedang regarding a headman, presumed to have taken advantage of the flood compensation money for affected farmers.

Residents claimed village headman, Samran Khumjerm, has falsfied information about the damage his farmland incurred from last year's floods.

A local resident identified as Boonma Luear-aram revealed that the headman lied that he had 45 rai of affected farmland to receive 100,000 baht in compensation.

Furthermore, the headman used his wife's name, Chamnong Kamcherm, for his advantage to declare that she had 40 rai of affect farmland and 12 rai of affected orchards to receive 150,000 baht in compensation.

In reality, Samran and Chamnong actually owned only 30 rai of farmland. Moreover, the couple have also aided their relatives by falsifying information regarding the damage and amount of their flood affected areas.

On December 19 last year, residents submitted this matter to the provincial governor, but the investigation has stalled. For this reason, residents have gathered again to press for the investigation to continue.

-- Tan Network 2012-03-20