27 Thai provinces declared drought disaster areas

[webfact]

Twenty-seven provinces declared drought disaster areas

BANGKOK, 25 April 2016 (NNT) – Twenty seven provinces in Thailand have now been declared drought disaster areas while the authorities will provide urgent relief to the affected public, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM).

DDPM Director-General Chatchai Promlert revealed today that 4,984 villages in 138 districts of 27 province have been declared emergency areas affected by drought disasters.

Of all affected provinces, ten are suffering from a lack of water for consumption, nine provinces are affected by agricultural issues and eight others are affected by both lack of water for consumption and agricultural issues.

The DDPM has appointed local administration and military units to provide urgent assistance by using tankers to deliver water to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, haze-affected air quality recorded in Chiang Mai provincial seat today remains at a health-affecting level.

The DDPM has ordered local units to carry out water mist spraying operations to help reduce airborne particles in a manner which does not affect water allocations and to make available supporting machinery to combat disasters, at the DDPM’s local offices.

Members of the public affected by the disaster are urged to call the 24-hour emergency hotline 1784 to request assistance.


-- NNT 2016-04-25

[apetley]

Since the beginning of October our village has had just 42 days of the local water supply available. I would love to know what 'urgent relief' is because so far there has been zero help from anyone.

[NongKhaiKid]

Songkran's over and TAT have counted the dosh so the drought's back.

[marko kok prong]

Wichianburi, phetchabun province,8.2 mm of rain since Jan,last rain i remember was mid november,and temps around 40c since early March,i have been away for a month but go back this week,will be interesting to see how the place looks,my friend who has lived there over 10 years,e mailed me to say that his pond was empty and huge cracks about a foot wide had opened up in his dead lawn. This sustained dry spell& heatwave are similar to what you would expect in summer in outback Australia.

[abitmiffed]

All I can say is happy songkran Mr prime minister, the nation is happy, dumb a** monkey. Time to go back to the Royal rainmaking and hurry up.

[SOTIRIOS]

....are people supposed to guess which ones....???

[jaltsc]

"Meanwhile, haze-affected air quality recorded in Chiang Mai provincial seat today remains at a health-affecting level...The DDPM has ordered local units to carry out water mist spraying operations to help reduce airborne particles in a manner which does not affect water allocations and to make available supporting machinery to combat disasters, at the DDPM’s local offices."

Once again, closing the barn door after the animals have escaped. Perhaps eliminating the situation that is necessitating the use of the limited amount of existing water would be a better solution.

Here's a novel idea...How about catching the offenders who are causing most of the haze by burning every bit of vegetation that exists. Then arresting them and fining them enough money, so that they will think twice before ever lighting another fire again?

Edited April 25, 2016 by jaltsc

[northernphil]

Songkran's over and TAT have counted the dosh so the drought's back.

Absolutely right NKK , 2 weeks ago it was all go for soakran ,now the soakran tourists have spent their Baht and gone home more mundane issues appear like the country now has very little water left an not a cloud in the sky . Wake up PM and smell the coffee........if you have enough water to brew coffee that is.

[Speedo1968]

Wichianburi, phetchabun province,8.2 mm of rain since Jan,last rain i remember was mid november,and temps around 40c since early March,i have been away for a month but go back this week,will be interesting to see how the place looks,my friend who has lived there over 10 years,e mailed me to say that his pond was empty and huge cracks about a foot wide had opened up in his dead lawn. This sustained dry spell& heatwave are similar to what you would expect in summer in outback Australia.

I suppose the govt. didn't think to re-invest the profits from all the nodding donkeys in the area.

[JAG]

All I can say is happy songkran Mr prime minister, the nation is happy, dumb a** monkey. Time to go back to the Royal rainmaking and hurry up.

There was one of those rainmaking aircraft parked at Chiang Rai airport the other day - a re-engined DC3 with a big red hopper pod fitted under the fuselage.

Unfortunately not a cloud in the sky to seed...

[hobobo]

My local in Pattaya went mad with Songkran fever early on the afternoon of 12 April. They used two 44 gallon (200 litres) barrels which they filled from bowsers at least ten times a day each barrel, until 19th April. When bowsers weren't around, they filled the barrels with hoses from their own taps, about 5 times a day each. In addition they bought blocks of ice, say 20 a day in total. Math isn't my strong point, but I think it goes something like this:

2 barrels x 15 times x 200 litres = 6000 litres per day

20 ice blocks x 20 litres = 400 litres per day

6400 litres x 8 days = 51,200 litres during Songkran

I am told that there are well over 3,000 bars in Pattaya. If only half were as crazy as my local, that amounts to about 76.8 million litres of "Songkran" water in Patts alone. Not much in terms of agricultural use, but a hell of a lot of water for home consumption. They should of thought of the drought during the holidays, so no sympathy from me!

[OOLEEBER]

"Meanwhile, haze-affected air quality recorded in Chiang Mai provincial seat today remains at a health-affecting level...The DDPM has ordered local units to carry out water mist spraying operations to help reduce airborne particles in a manner which does not affect water allocations and to make available supporting machinery to combat disasters, at the DDPM’s local offices."

Once again, closing the barn door after the animals have escaped. Perhaps eliminating the situation that is necessitating the use of the limited amount of existing water would be a better solution.

Here's a novel idea...How about catching the offenders who are causing most of the haze by burning every bit of vegetation that exists. Then arresting them and fining them enough money, so that they will think twice before ever lighting another fire again?

I went out on the balcony around 3am for some lunar and planetary imaging. Around 3.30am someone came from nowhere and started a fire in the field next to us. By 4.30am the blaze was out, job done and the guy was nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was deliberately doing this at a time when he knew he would least likely to be caught.

Meanwhile there are nightly fires blazing on the top of Kao Luang Mountain (National Park) that I see all the time from my balcony. Sadly I don't think this problem will ever go away.

[ExpatOilWorker]

....are people supposed to guess which ones....???

Rest assured that Bangkok is not one of them and that is all that really matters.

[marko kok prong]

"Meanwhile, haze-affected air quality recorded in Chiang Mai provincial seat today remains at a health-affecting level...The DDPM has ordered local units to carry out water mist spraying operations to help reduce airborne particles in a manner which does not affect water allocations and to make available supporting machinery to combat disasters, at the DDPM’s local offices."

Once again, closing the barn door after the animals have escaped. Perhaps eliminating the situation that is necessitating the use of the limited amount of existing water would be a better solution.

Here's a novel idea...How about catching the offenders who are causing most of the haze by burning every bit of vegetation that exists. Then arresting them and fining them enough money, so that they will think twice before ever lighting another fire again?

I went out on the balcony around 3am for some lunar and planetary imaging. Around 3.30am someone came from nowhere and started a fire in the field next to us. By 4.30am the blaze was out, job done and the guy was nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was deliberately doing this at a time when he knew he would least likely to be caught.

Meanwhile there are nightly fires blazing on the top of Kao Luang Mountain (National Park) that I see all the time from my balcony. Sadly I don't think this problem will ever go away.

They will never stop,this is how they have practised agriculture here for thousands of years slash and burn,to think someone who maybe cannot read and write,and lives far away from any govt officers would even know let alone care about this edict is pie, or should i say smoke in the sky.

[wabothai]

Absolutely no news if provinces are not mentioned.

[juice777]

I can't believe the thai government let the celebrations for songkran happen

Talk about a insult to Pepole going with out water in the affected areas

I remember in the UK 20 years ago when we had a water shortage we had a hosepipe ban and you couldn't water your plants, if you did you would get a fine

Songkran cleberations in a drought Jesus

[Holy Cinema]

Wanna Bet the greens and fairways on these "special" golf courses in these disaster areas are perfect though

[ratcatcher]

I can't believe the thai government let the celebrations for songkran happen

Talk about a insult to Pepole going with out water in the affected areas

I remember in the UK 20 years ago when we had a water shortage we had a hosepipe ban and you couldn't water your plants, if you did you would get a fine

Songkran cleberations in a drought Jesus

"Songkran cleberations in a drought Jesus "

Be grateful the good Lord isn't here, otherwise he'd be tasked with turning all the wine into water