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Thailand – Another Deadly Flood Victim

Thailand, like much of Southeast Asia, has been experiencing an unusually long wet season this year. Thailand’s monsoon rainy season this year has been the most severe in 50 years according to weather forecasters.

According to Thai authorities, capital city Bangkok is still facing a threat of additional flooding if it is hit with more heavy rains. Intense relief efforts are underway after the worst flooding in decades swept two-thirds of the country, swamping farmland and factories and leaving 300 people dead.

Monsoon downpours that began in July have inundated two-thirds of the country, and some areas remain under more than 6 feet (2 meters) of water that is unlikely to dissipate for weeks. Provinces north of the capital and nearby cities and towns are protecting the city of 9.7 million people with sand bags and barriers.

Pracha Promnok is minister of justice and director of Thailand’s flood relief. He assured journalists recently that they can manage the situation, unless, he says, there is more rain.

He says as far as the risk of Bangkok flooding is concerned, they are working to build a defensive wall. He names three areas surrounding Bangkok’s north that he says are acting as protective barriers. He says they are confident they will succeed.

Flooding in Thailand Continues

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, facing the first major test of her two-month-old premiership, has expressed confidence that the low-lying capital will be spared from the deadly floods. But Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra is warning the threat to the capital is not yet past. He says the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will raise the floodwalls in the northern outskirts of the city by half a metre, using up to 1.2 million sandbags.

Currently about one third of Thailand’s provinces are affected by the floods, which reached several metres deep in places. The heavy monsoon floods in Thailand continue to create devastation on the population and the economy of Thailand.

The floods have disrupted production of cars, electronics and other goods in the kingdom, with factories and roads under water. The government estimates the disaster is likely to curb 2011 economic growth by 1.0-1.7 percentage points. The impact is greater than the tsunami [that struck Japan in March]. According to the Labour Ministry, 10,827 factories in 17 provinces are flooded, affecting 446,777 workers. The focus is now on the nation’s first industrial estate, Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, which houses 227 factories and employs over 170,000 workers.

Agriculture is Destroyed

The agricultural and industrial sectors are the worst affected. 8.41 million acres of rice fields are flooded, cutting estimated annual output by 3 million tonnes at least. Of course, the precise extent of the damage to the industrial sector is impossible to ascertain.

Major flooding in Thailand and in different regions of the world are becoming a more common place scenario as we see the true effects of climate change taking place.

Written by Naseem Sheikh