Flood Rattled Bangkok Fights Back
Bangkok is just on its way back to bringing normalcy to civilian lives. A large number of boats have been made available to the local residents to wade through the flood waters, in order to enable them to salvage their belongings, properties or live stock by draining out water from the industrial estates and residential complexes. Though this has come a little late, the Prime Minister Yinluck Shinawatra heaved a sigh of relief that they could at least provide immediate helping aids to the locals.Bangkok is just on its way back to bringing normalcy to civilian lives. A large number of boats have been made available to the local residents to wade through the flood waters, in order to enable them to salvage their belongings, properties or live stock by draining out water from the industrial estates and residential complexes. Though this has come a little late, the Prime Minister Yinluck Shinawatra heaved a sigh of relief that they could at least provide immediate helping aids to the locals.
The massive deluge did not break up suddenly in to the province. The incessant rains that took over Bangkok and its surroundings since June 2011 have thrown early warning signals to the local and central administration. The political feuds going on between the local Democrat led government that lost the elections in June 2011 and the Pheu Thai Government at the center have driven the attention on to the flood management out of focus over the last few months. This coupled with the poor disaster planning compounded the problem leading to loss of over 500 lives since late July and forced closure of over 10000 industrial units. There was no coordination between the various wings of the Government in pulling up prompt corrective actions to restrain further damage from the floods. The authorities paid a deaf ear to the warning signals while the dams have been taking in overflows resulting in inundation of the province, leaving no room for last minute management.
While the immediate rehab efforts would only solve a third of the problem, the rest could only be dealt with over a long time scale aided by huge budgeting. The Government has already set aside an initial budget of 100 billion Baht (roughly $ 3.3 billion) to help reconstruct and repair the damaged areas. The Cabinet is set to discuss more rehabilitation efforts in its meeting scheduled for the 8th of November 2011.
Rehabilitation efforts have begun in Nakhon Sawan province and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya province just as the flood waters began to recede. While the flood water is expected to take anywhere between two to three weeks to drain in to the sea, authorities have erected a 6 km long wall of sandbags to prevent the water from drowning the industrial zones to the east of the Capital.
Army has been fighting an untiring battle and is quite determined to stake a claim to the win over the war with the floods.
A group of Taiwanese business owners and volunteers have also joined the rehab brigade, by supplying huge number of sandbags and helping the locals to drain out water from the area.
This flood episode is the worst Bangkok has ever known since the last 60 or more years. While the infrastructure has to be stepped up gradually, immediate efforts should come well-coordinated in order to mitigate the perilous effects on the citizens and economy.
The flood management exercise is the key factor that determines the resurrection of the Thai economy and the Government would do well to pay attention to this, bereft of political motives. Thanks to the investors who still wish to continue once normalcy is restored, owing to its locational and infrastructure advantages, Thai can still hope to look ahead for a bright future. The key lies with the administration’s commitment to lead a valiant fight to restore its fortunes !!