1 Million People Stranded As Floods Rage Through Thai South Nightmare islands

[Admin]

Nightmare islands
By THE NATION
2011-03-30

1 million stranded as floods rage through South; 9 killed, with Nakhon Si Thammarat hit the hardest; Heavy rain likely to continue for next few days

Nearly a million residents living in flood-hit areas in the South have been left stranded with no access to land and air transport, even as the number of deaths increased to nine, with the grim prospect of heavy rains pounding many of the areas for the next few days.

A storm yesterday aggravated difficulties for the hardest-hit province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, damaging 250 homes in coastal areas and the Talum Phuk peninsula. The raging winds felled a number of power poles, causing blackouts in many areas.

Local residents of the peninsula complained about the total lack of assistance from authorities, and shortages of food and electricity. Fishermen are relying entirely on high-interest loans from illegal lenders to pay for their regular expenses while they are unable to go out fishing.

In Lan Saka district, a large number of people living at the foot of small hills have been evacuated following mudslides, with the possibility of more coming. A large pile of debris has covered farmlands and damaged them.

The situation in the whole region, including the other six hard-hit provinces - Surat Thani, Chumphon, Phang Nga, Ranong, Trang and Phatthalung - will likely return to normal next week if the heavy rains cease.

All train services down from Nakhon Si Thammarat have been suspended due to high flooding of the railway tracks. Villagers living in the foothills of nine provinces have been advised to watch out for mudslides, which have occurred in nine districts in four provinces. There are 1,628 locations facing the risk of mudslides in 14 southern provinces, with a total of 5,593 locations in 51 provinces across the country.

In tambon Pak Phoon in Muang district, desperate villagers seeking to be evacuated made a false appeal for help. When rescuers arrived at the scene, they rejected their request for evacuation citing priority for an incident in which a brick oven had collapsed. A villager then confessed to raising a false alarm to get the attention of rescuers.

Four Navy vessels, including an amphibious landing craft, are on their way to the South from the Sattahip Naval Base, with on-board helicopters hoping to pick up a large number of tourists stranded on many tourist islands. A total of 103 tourists stranded on tourist islands off Phang Nga coast on Andaman Sea side have been rescued by two local Navy vessels.

In Phi Poon district, two reservoirs are brimming and releasing water on an hourly basis to prevent cracks or a collapse. The Kathoon and Khlong Din Daeng cannot accommodate any more water, said district chief Trairat Chaiyarat.

In the latest fatality reported in Phatthalung, a woman drowned when her car plunged into two-metre roadside floodwaters, raising the number of dead to nine, according to unofficial news reports. The latest official update on the disaster yesterday reported seven deaths, with 979,665 people living in 310,406 affected households. The flood areas cover 63 districts in seven southern provinces.

Airports in Nakhon Si Thammarat have been closed because the runways and taxiways have been flooded while the one in Samui Island remains closed as of press time last night.

Ekkarat Sukpetch, a reporter at The Nation, said rain poured down day and night, forcing Bangkok Airways to cancel most of its flights to and from Samui Airport. "Floodwater is also rising to a point that electricity had to be cut off on Lamai Beach," she said.

She added that tap water was not available on the beach as electrical pumps stopped working when the electricity went off on Monday night.

"I've heard that someone was electrocuted. So, power has been turned off," Ekkarat said. Without any access to electricity and tap water on Lamai Beach, she moved to Chaweng Beach instead.

Ekkarat had gone to cover the Samui International Body Painting Competition, which took place during the weekend. She was scheduled to fly back to Bangkok on Monday but the weather conditions made it impossible. Ekkarat showed up again at Samui Airport at 4am yesterday, awaiting a Bangkok Airways flight. "But because there are just two flights, there are not enough seats to carry all the stranded passengers back," she said.

[Admin]

Thai floods kill 15 dead, thousands stranded


Thailand mobilised its only aircraft carrier as efforts to rescue thousands trapped on storm-swept holiday islands intensified on Wednesday after severe flooding across the south killed 15.

Victims were either swept away by the rising waters, or buried in mudslides as the unseasonably wet weather deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people in what should be one of the hottest months of the year.

Rising waters have choked off road and rail links to the southern region, while islands in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea were left isolated as ferries were cancelled.

Air connections have also been disrupted although flights began to run again on Wednesday to some areas.

Around 13,000 holidaymakers had been stranded on Koh Samui alone, said Bannasat Ruangjan, of the island's tourism association, who warned that food and fuel stocks could run low in the next few days if rain continued to hamper the flow of supplies.

"We advised tourists to stay in hotels and not to travel to the airport until the situation returns to normal, so far food and utilities are still adequate but I worry about stocks of diesel," he said.

Bangkok Airways said it expected to transport about 2,000 people in 19 flights from Samui to the Thai capital on Wednesday "as the weather is starting to clear".

Bad weather and a power blackout at Samui airport grounded over 50 flights on Monday and Tuesday.

Deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government had sent its only aircraft carrier to rescue around 1,000 people stuck on Koh Tao island.

The 14-year-old HTMS Chakri Naruebet has a displacement of 11,485 metric tons and can accommodate 10 helicopters.

"There are roughly one million people affected in many provinces. At first we thought the flood would last a day or two, but now it has already been one week," he told reporters.

According to the Thai interior ministry, there are 1,225 tourists stranded in Koh Tao and 1,100 in the Phangan islands in the Gulf of Thailand.

There were about 70 holidaymakers in the Similan islands and 55 in the Surin island chain off the west coast of Thailand. It did not mention Samui.

A government statement said four people were confirmed dead after a mudslide in the Khao Phanom district of Krabi province early Wednesday.

More than 40 people were admitted to hospital after the mudslip, which Thai media said completely destroyed two villages.

The flooding, which began in southern Thailand a week ago, has killed seven people in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, three along the coast in Surat Thani and one in neighbouring Phatthalung.

In all, 80 districts of eight provinces have been declared disaster areas by Thailand's disaster prevention and mitigation department.

Devastating flooding across Thailand late last year left more than 220 people dead, damaging the homes or livelihoods of an estimated 8.6 million people in 51 of the kingdom's 76 provinces.

Source:
http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4747340
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[nookiebear]

This must be getting serious as the only other time the 'aircraft carrier ' has left Sattahip was after the Tsunami!!

[Admin]

Flood crisis still bad
By THE NATION
2011-04-04

The flood crisis in Surat Thani remained critical late last night amid surging rivers and high levels of water.

Helicopters were used to airlift about 1,000 stranded villagers in Nakhon Si Thammarat to safety for a second day running.
Flood-related fatalities increased to 45, with latest five coming on top of 40 in an official update yesterday. Some 21 occurred in hardest-hit Nakhon Si Thammarat, according to provincial clerk Decha Kangsanant.

A second pickup zone was set to be designated at Ban Rong Lek to speed up airlift evacuations in hard-hit Nopphitham district, he said.

A team of government psychiatrists was visiting flood-hit areas to talk to traumatise villagers or provide counselling, as many people who lost homes or loved ones are badly stressed.

Around 20,000 residents had been evacuated and all its 23 districts had been flooded, with more than 200,000 households affected and 280,000 rai of farmland flooded. Total damage was estimated at Bt1.5 billion.

Decha said it would take three months to restore things to normal. Currently, people lacked drinking water and electricity. But the government was expected to provide 200 small generators soon.

The National Disaster Warning Centre said the landslide risk would remain for a day or two. Residential areas at the foot of mountains were the most vulnerable and people had been advised to be ready for an emergency evacuation.

Senior meteorologist Phayao Ruengnam said rain should be less frequent in the South after the previous torrid week. Surat Thani, which has lower-lying areas amid the hills, acts as a catchment area which floodwater travels through on the way to the sea.

Yesterday about 1,000 vendors and residents in Phuphin district and Surat Thani's main market refused to move, despite a request by rescue workers. People said they wanted to guard against possible thefts.

In Phatthalung, four projects were at risk of a flash flood by the brimming lake. Around 150 villages were under 70cm of water while another 300 have lacked clean water for 10 days.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, speaking in his weekly TV show yesterday, said that state assistance measures and a relief fund would be discussed probably approved in a special Cabinet meeting today. He later visited flooded areas and helped give out relief supplies to local residents.

[Admin]

Land encroachers blamed
By PONGPHON SARNSAMAK,
JANJIRA PONGRAI
The Nation 2011-04-04

Clearing of jungle to grow rubber, oil palm aggravated or directly caused landslide that killed at least 40

Rampant encroachment on forestland to carve out rubber and oil palm plantations has been blamed for exacerbating if not directly causing the horrific landslide that killed at least 40 people during the off-season storm in the South last week.

"There are no trees to hold the ground and prevent landslides," Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said yesterday.

Swaths of jungle were levelled to plant rubber trees, which could not keep the ground surface stable and slow down flashfloods, he said. The ministry last year surveyed forest encroachment and counted over 60 landslides in the North and South.

Cutting trees down and planting rubber trees in designated natural preserves had caused landslides and flashfloods in these two regions, he said.

"I instructed forestry officials to arrest people who encroached on forest reserves and destroy rubber trees that had been planted in forest areas," he said.

Teeraphat Prayoonsit, deputy director-general of the Natural Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, said over 500,000 rai of rubber plantations were located in forest conservation areas especially in the northern and southern provinces.

In the South, the para rubber plantations were concentrated on the Banthat Mountain range, Khao Poo Khao Ya National Park and some parts of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The agency would inspect the forest areas that were damaged by flashfloods and landslides after the floodwaters recede.

Most landslides had occurred on low flatland found to be occupied by large rubber and oil palm plantations, he said.

"We will strictly control the usage of land resources especially the cultivation of lowland as it would be at risk of disasters. We will also examine land ownership in these areas," he said.

The department still needs the cooperation of villagers to reforest the destroyed areas, he said, adding that large plantations should not be allowed in forest conservation areas or reserved areas.

Lertsin Raksaskulwong, director of the Mineral Resources Department's Environmental Geology and Geohazards Bureau, said there were several factors behind the landslides in the southern provinces during the torrential rains last week.

Granite and limestone that are easily damaged during flashfloods are the dominant geologic setting. There is also a lot of high and steep mountains that have been classified as high risk for landslides.

The massive forest encroachment and heavy rains during the past week were the main causes of landslides in the southern provinces, he added.

Anond Snidvongs, director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, said the flashfloods and landslides in the southern provinces were caused by extreme rainfall. Most of the mudslides had occurred on slopes, which smashed people's houses and property.

Most of the roads under construction had also blocked the flow of rainwater, he added.

Royol Chitradon, director of the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute, said most of the rubber trees planted in southern provinces do not have taproots to absorb water and hold the ground to prevent landslides and flashfloods.

Jongrak Songrattanaphan, chief of Krabi's Natural Resources and Environment office, said the landslides in Krabi during past week were caused by the geologic setting and heavy downpours especially in Khaopranombenja National Park.

In Krabi, about 1 million rai of forest areas were classified as forest reserves. About 500,000 rai of the forest areas were distributed to landless people under the Sor Por Kor agrarian reform scheme.

Few forest reserves were entered by local people to plant rubber trees. Only 1,000 rai of forest reserves were encroached on this way a year, he added.

Saran Jaisa-ard, chief of Nakhon Si Thammarat Protected Area Regional Office 5, said severe landslides, which occurred in four areas in the province, were caused by heavy rain and geological features.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry recorded over 30 landslides and eight flashfloods in eight southern provinces from March 24-31.

[nookiebear]

The 'money tree' appears again ,,,4.4 million donated to flood hit South

[boloa]

Recovery begins as rains ease

Govt and armed forces aid flood-hit provinces

The cabinet yesterday allocated 6.13 billion baht and other financial aid packages to help flood victims in the South as the deluge begins to subside in many areas after the rains stopped
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the cabinet approved a budget of 2.89 billion baht to pay each affected family 5,000 baht initially.

Another 3.24 billion baht will be distributed to help flood-hit farmers.

According to deputy government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut, the cash aid did not cover damaged rubber and palm plantations which have yet to be surveyed.

The 2.89 million baht will be allocated to help affected families in 10 southern provinces of Surat Thani, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Chumphon, Trang, Phangnga, Satun, Songkhla and Narathiwa
Since March 23, southern flooding has affected about 579,000 families.

The initial 5,000 baht will go to the families whose houses were hit by flash floods or landslides or flooded for at least a week, and to families whose assets had been destroyed by floods.

The financial aid should reach all affected households by June 22.

The cabinet also doubled the emergency fund ceiling for each flood-affected province from 50 million baht.

This applies to Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Surat Thani, Chumphon, Trang, Krabi, Songkhla and Phangnga.

The Finance Ministry has also told state banks to provide financial assistance schemes to any of their borrowers who have been affected by the floods.

These measures include principal and interest payment suspension, interest rate cuts, soft loans allocation for house repairs and business restoration, and loan payment period extension.

State banks will also give financial aid to local administrative organisations.

Mr Abhisit conceded that the southern flooding could hinder the whole country's economic growth.

He said heavy flooding in the South was caused by unusually excessive amounts of rainwater.

The premier admitted to other contributing factors such as buildings that blocked drainage ways and the encroachment on forests of expanding rubber plantations in the region.

Withayen Muttamara, deputy director of the government's flood relief centre, said Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Surat Thani remained on alert because the provinces were located on the floodwater's path to the sea
So far, more than 2 million people have been affected by the disaster and more than 40,000 have been evacuated.

The crisis has affected more than 176,000 farmers and 1.04 million rai (1,600 square kilometres) of farmland, including 311,000 rai (500 square kilometres) of paddy fields and up to 50,000 rai (80 square kilometres) of rubber plantations.

More than 4.3 million head of livestock had also perished.

The armed forces have sent troops and equipment to help flood victims in the 10 provinces.

More than 10,000 soldiers have been mobilised, along with heavy machines and vehicles to deliver relief supplies and restore damaged infrastructure.

Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha said nine flood relief centres had been set up to coordinate help.

The navy is additionally helping affected villagers on islands and is running a relief centre in Satun, while the air force has also assisted in transporting equipment and supplies for the relief operation.

Apart from delivering supplies and working to restore damaged infrastructure, the armed forces have also sent personnel to help provide medical care for injured or ailing villagers.

But yesterday, flood water began to recede in many areas.
Shortages of food, consumer goods and petrol were reported in some areas in Surat Thani because damaged roads have made overland delivery impossible.

Phetkasem Highway, the main thoroughfare to the south, was impassable for small vehicles yesterday, while south-bound trains from Bangkok could travel only as far as Chaiya station in Surat Thani.

State-owned Transport Co has suspended inter-provincial bus services to southern provinces on the Gulf of Thailand on routes which pass through Surat Thani, but the timetable is expected to resume today.

Nakhon Si Thammarat airport is expected to reopen for commercial flights tomorrow.

[nookiebear]

The money tree grows by the day

[boloa]

Operations are slowly getting back to normal in flood-hit South

Flights from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat resumed yesterday with the Air Asia FD 3200 landing at 8.15am and a Nok Air flight arriving at 3.30pm.
Civil Aviation Department directorgeneral Somchai Chanrod said inspection showed that the Nakhon Si Thammarat airport, which had to be shutdown due to floods since March 27, was in a fit condition to resume and safely support flights.

Nok Air, Air Asia and Orient Thai airlines will be providing five daily flights to and from Nakhon Si Thammarat today and tomorrow, and then from Saturday onwards, daily flights to and from the province will be increased to seven as usual, Somchai said.

Director of the provincial airport, Nisit Sombat said the airport had spent Bt50 million to repair the flooddamaged runway, and that he planned to seek another Bt56 million from the government to elevate the runway and improve its quality.

Meanwhile, the floodhit province's Tha Sala Hospital resumed most of its services yesterday and is expected to go into full operation by tomorrow. This 120bed hospital has suffered damages worth Bt40 million.

HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and HRH Princess Srirasmi have graciously taken an 11yearold boy and his twoyearold brother under their patronage. They youngsters lost their parents to a landslide on March 30 in Krabi's Khao Phanom district, Governor Prasit Osathanon said yesterday.

Most of Surat Thani remains inundated despite floodwaters being continuously drained into the sea, though small vehicles can manoeuvre through some roads. However, patients suffering serious illnesses still have to be transported to Surat Thani Hospital by helicopter, the latest case being that of Uthit Reungphrom, 47, who suffered acute bleeding and had to be taken out of Chaiya District Hospital.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he had urged Surat Thani governor and related officials to ensure that electricity and tap water was made available in flooded areas as soon as possible. He said expected the power to be restored in a next four or five days. He has also warned people against drinking floodwater for fear of outbreaks, and has called on state agencies to provide drinking water to affected households as soon as possible. Residents in some areas were expected to get a supply later yesterday.

As flood victims in Surat Thani's Koh Samui district queued up to register for the Bt5,000 assistance money yesterday, PM's Office Minister Satit Wongnongtaey said during a teleconference with southern governors that the committee responsible for aiding flood victims, which is chaired by him, would be sending a team of officials today to inspect flood damages in Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Krabi, Trang, Chumphon, Songkhla, Satun and Narathiwat.

The officials will study the flood damages thoroughly before providing the Bt5,000 aid to families, he said, adding that Disaster Prevention and Mitigation officials would also go to the affected provinces today to help speed up applications for the aid.

In related news, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday ordered concerned agencies including the Finance, Justice, Social Development and Human Security ministries as well as the Government Housing Bank (GHB) to provide assistance packages to flood victims in the South.

The Finance Ministry and GHB are also thinking about offering loans to those whose homes were badly damaged by the flooding.

In addition, the Justice Ministry will also provide legal advice to those who are unable to pay their debts.

A source at Government House said yesterday that Abhisit wanted the concerned agencies to launch urgent measures of relief, especially for survivors who have lost all their belongings to the floods.

Abhisit has also told the Social Development and Human Security Ministry to look into providing homes for people who have lost everything under projects such as the "Man Kong Housing Project".

Moreover, Transport and Interior ministries have been told to cooperate more in restoring the damaged infrastructure, mainly roads, bridges and water systems.