Chiang Mai – politicians come together, and confirm that they are ready for floods

Via: City News – Chiang Mai

The three men headed to Tawangtan Reservior to check on the removal of water hyacinths in preparation for heavy rains.

The governor told the press that according to experts, bodies of water including the Ping River, were full of aquatic weeds. This was affecting the flow of water.

Related organisations have dredged the river and now plan to build a floodgate to increase efficiency in draining water. The dredging started in Chiang Mai and went all the way to Kamphaengphet province (about 300 kilometres). The governor says this will protect Chiang Mai city and the cities nearby from floods. (yeah, right!).

The city’s people can only wait and see, though their trust in political assurances might have been somewhat bruised after Chiang Mai’s burning season this year and the usual pollution is brings.

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=2023

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photo:

2005 – Chiang Mai ‘night bazaar’

Thailand: a survivor of the flood

Note: I don’t know who took the photograph, all I know is that it’s very good.

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Chiang Mai – 12,600 monks collect donations for flood victims

Via: Chiang Mai Mail

The long procession of monks and Buddhist faithful offering alms to make merit takes place in Chiang Mai annually but this year members of the public were encouraged to donate items for flood victims to the 12, 600 monks who processed along Chang Klan Road. The early morning alms giving saw thousands of people line the streets to offer donations of food, water, and goods to the monks who then turned the proceeds over to be sorted, loaded into a truck and delivered to people suffering from the flooding in Central Thailand and Bangkok. Government officials, businesspeople and local residents were all on hand in the early morning of Sunday, November 27, 2011 to make merit by donating to the monks.

http://chiangmai-mail.com/current/news.shtml#hd5

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‘Thai Flood Hacks’

This is a terrific blog showing how the Thai people are coping with the devestating flood.

 CHECK IT OUT!

Water Bottle Swimming Vest for Cats via Message/Facebook submitted by Siriwat.

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My parents’ dog can’t swim, so we made this makeshift doggie life jacket for him.

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http://thai-flood-hacks.tumblr.com/

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Thailand – Huay Yai woman opens home to animal-loving flood victims

Via: Pattaya Mail

A Huay Yai homeowner has opened the gates of her large home to victims of Bangkok’s flood crisis.

Jongkolnee Jankhet, 47, fled to her Huay Yai residence after her primary house in Bangkok’s Rangsit neighborhood was flooded in mid-October. Realizing government and charity shelters will not take evacuees with pets, she decided throw open the gates of her 3-rai estate to animal lovers in need.

Eight families – 25 people and 120 pets – responded to her ad on a Thai Internet message board. They’re now staying on the first floor of two houses and in an outside sala. Jongkolnee said she is offering them refuge for free.

One of those taking refuge is 67-year-old Wirat Taengngam, his wife and 12 dogs. Water in their Rangsit home was chest deep and he’d planned to rent an apartment in Pattaya, but couldn’t find any that accepted pets. He thanked Jongkolnee for generosity that helped him keep his “family” together.

http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/huay-yai-woman-opens-home-to-animal-loving-flood-victims-7515

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My goodness, what a kind thing to do!

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Bangkok

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Bangkok: Sukhumbhand – possibly, ‘covering his bet’

Via: The Nation

Bangkok Governor MR Sukkhumbhand Paribatra said yesterday that he would see all roads are dry as a New Year gift for Bankokians.

sounds good, right?

However, he yesterday warned residents in Prawet, Saphan Sung and Bangkok Yai districts to move their belongings to higher ground and prepare for possible evacuation.

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In related news, Airports of Thailand chairman ACM Sumet Phomanee yesterday said officials were speedily repairing key parts of Don Mueang Airport targeted for early re-opening. It was expected that, after the “Big Bag” floodwall was completed to protect the airport’s eastern runways on Tuesday, and the floodwater had subsided, it would take 60 days to repair the airport in full. He expressed 100-per-cent confidence that Suvarnabhumi Airport would be safe from flooding.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Sukhumbhand-Dry-city-by-New-Year-30169794.html

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” . . . he would see ALL roads are dry as a New Year gift for Bankokians.”

NOT counting Chinese New Years, Thai people celebrate two other new years: January 1st, and Songkran (mid-April).

It’s my ‘personal opinion’ the impact of the flood has been ‘downplayed’; and the promises of when it will be fixed, have been ‘overplayed’.

I hope I’m wrong, but I’m skeptical about January 1st.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Sukhumbhand-Dry-city-by-New-Year-30169794.html

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Thailland – No more floods in next 5 years – Virabongsa

Via: The Nation

“I took this job as a Thai who wants to help the homeland country. My job is to assure local and foreign investors on the reconstruction of the country for higher competitiveness. Within a year from now, the confidence will be restored and in five years, there would be no more disaster,” he told reporters after the appointment.

Virabongsa, former deputy prime minister, noted that the disaster is more serious than in 1942 and too serious for any government to handle, given that flood-hit areas contribute one third of the economy and house manufacturing centres.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/No-more-floods-in-next-5-years-Virabongsa-30169458.html

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personal thought:

With climate change, and the continuing sinking of Bangkok: I think it’s conceivable 2012, 2013, . . ., might be even more disasterous.

I hope that’s not the case, but . . .

https://seattle99.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/floods-show-what-lies-ahead-for-sinking-bangkok/

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Floods show what lies ahead for sinking Bangkok

Via: Pattaya Daily News

The Thai capital, built on swampland, is slowly sinking and the floods currently besieging Bangkok could be merely a foretaste of a grim future as climate change makes its impact felt, experts say.

The low-lying metropolis lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the Gulf of Thailand, where various experts forecast sea level will rise by 19 to 29 centimetres (7 to 11 inches) by 2050 as a result of global warming.

Water levels would also increase in Bangkok’s main Chao Phraya river, which already overflows regularly.

If no action is taken to protect the city, “in 50 years… most of Bangkok will be below sea level,” said Anond Snidvongs, a climate change expert at the capital’s Chulalongkorn University.

But global warming is not the only threat. The capital’s gradual sinking has also been blamed on years of aggressive groundwater extraction to meet the growing needs of the city’s factories and its 12 million inhabitants.

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While scientists may argue over the exact figures, they agree about what lies in store for the sprawling megacity.

“There is no going back. The city is not going to rise again,” said the ADB’s lead climate change specialist David McCauley.

Faced with the combined threats of land subsidence and rising temperatures and sea levels, the World Bank has predicted that Bangkok’s flood risk will increase four-fold from now by 2050 (thirty-nine years).

And the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has classified the Thai capital among the 10 cities in the world facing the biggest potential impact from coastal flooding by 2070.

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2011/11/07/floods-show-what-lies-ahead-for-sinking-bangkok/

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Bangkok – Tonnes of garbage, dirty water to deal with

Via: The Nation

A key problem is that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration cannot send garbage trucks to flooded areas while 9.4 million people in those areas were expected to generate about 500 kilograms of rubbish each over a number of weeks.

“A suggestion for residents at this moment is to keep the garbage and all kinds of waste above water,”  (yeah well, easy for him to say) Worrasart Apaipong, acting directorgeneral of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry’s Pollution Control Department, said yesterday.

People were dumping all kinds of flood damaged debris such as stuff made from plastic, books, furniture and electronic devices, while some 500,000 cars were partially submerged and would need to change some parts such as batteries and engine oil, he said.

The department is coordinating with many authorities in Bangkok and other inundated provinces to prepare for garbage disposal, he said.

Flood victims should also help the authorities by separating their garbage, as many materials like wood, glass, plastic and paper could be recycled or reused.

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Another serious issue was contamination of the water supply and water resources for public use.

The department has checked the water at 149 spots in all flooded provinces – Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Lop Buri, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Ayutthaya, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.

Some 23 per cent of the water was low quality. Some areas such as Tale Chupsorn subdistrict in Lop Buri had the worst, with a dissolved oxygen level of only 0.00.5 milligram per litre.

Water for public use in many surveyed areas was basically bad. Of that, 24 per cent was of poor quality, 32 per cent rated fair and only 21 per cent good.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Tonnes-of-garbage-dirty-water-to-deal-with-30169354.html

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