[governance] Thailand

Thu Oct 20 10:07:30 EDT 2011

Thailand in crisis as floods to hit BangkokReuters in Bangkok
Updated on *Oct 20, 2011*Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Thursday
Thailand was in crisis and the government was struggling to cope as the
worst floods in half a century threatened to engulf the capital, Bangkok.

Yingluck, under fire for her management of the flooding that has killed at
least 320 people since July and devastated industrialised provinces in the
centre of the country, called for national unity in the face of the crisis.

“I have to admit the government can't keep a close eye on every spot. Now is
a time of national crisis. Everybody should work together,” she said at a
crisis centre set up at Bangkok's Don Muang airport.

“Blaming each other won't help. Today we need unity to solve the problem,”
she added.

One inner city area was under threat on Thursday after floodwater breached a
waterworks canal, officials said.

Shelters for as many as 45,000 people were being prepared as a precaution,
as residents of several northern districts packed up their belongings and
left or waded waist-deep through normally bustling shopping streets.

The worst flooding in half a century now covers a third of Thailand's
provinces, some 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) in the north,
northeast and centre of the country.

Huge industrial estates to the north of Bangkok have been swamped and the
central bank put the damage to industry at more than 100 billion baht
(US$3.3 billion) on Thursday.

It has been raising interest rates for more than a year to fight inflation
but it left them unchanged at a meeting on Wednesday and said on Thursday it
was ready to call a special meeting to cut them if necessary.

Japan's Sony said on Thursday it would delay the launch of several new
cameras due in November after floods forced it to halt production at some
Thai plants.

The output of Japanese car makers has fallen by about 6,000 units a day
because of the flooding.

Rice traders and industry analysts said as much as 3.5 million tonnes of
paddy, equivalent to 2 million tonnes of milled rice, may have been damaged
and loading of 100,000 tonnes may have been delayed because of the flooding.

Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter.

Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said economic growth this
year could be more than one percentage point less than the 4.1 per cent the
central bank has forecast.

Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said on Tuesday it may be just
a bit more than 2 per cent.

The damage to the economy will be far higher if flooding hits Bangkok, which
accounts for 41 per cent of GDP.

Pracha Promnok, justice minister and head of the government crisis centre,
said city officials had been pumping water out overnight in the Samsen and
Makkasan areas, which are just north of the royal palace and other prime
tourist sites.

“If we can't control the situation or things go wrong with the water pumping
machine or we can't pump water in time, then there's a chance that our
Bangkok will be swamped,” Pracha told Channel 3 television, adding that the
water level in the morning was still manageable.

Water from the north is flowing towards Bangkok and the authorities have
been trying desperately to divert it around the inner city using a defensive
system of dikes and canals.

The immediate danger seemed to have passed at the weekend, when high estuary
tides and heavy rain added to the problem, but residents are braced for
trouble again.

In one northern district, floodwater flowed into the canals as villagers
tried desperately to repair an embankment with improvised sandbags. Some
people waded through waist-high water, others rowed through shopping streets
on makeshift rafts.

“I'm really scared, I couldn't sleep last night. I heard the water would
come. I didn't know what to do,” said Sakor Byuanpanat, 54, in the Sai Mai
district, whose home was knee-deep in water.

A survey of 415 residents in Bangkok and nearby provinces by pollsters at
Assumption University this week showed 87 per cent thought the government's
information was unreliable.

Concern about contaminated tap water prompted Bangkok residents to rush to
buy bottled water on Thursday. One central supermarket run by Big C Super
centre had sold out.

Some 162 shelters have been prepared in case of evacuation and people in
seven districts in the northeast of Bangkok were told to prepare for
flooding. About 200 families were evacuated late on Wednesday and people
were told to move cars and valuables to higher ground.

Pracha said the flow of water down from Nava Nakorn, a big industrial estate
north of Bangkok that is completely flooded, and elsewhere in Pathum Thani
province was strong but the dikes were holding.

Prasarn said economic growth could be more than one percentage point less
than the 4.1 per cent the central bank has forecast and Finance Minister
Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala told reporters on Tuesday growth may be only a
bit more than 2 per cent.

On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 9:55 PM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <
salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hope our friends in Thailand are ok:
> http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=51e3aaf581f13310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=Asia+%26+World&s=News
>
> --
> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
>
> Tweeter: @SalanietaT
> Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
> Cell: +679 998 2851
>
>
>
>
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