Bangkok looks forward to a month of flooding
Source: Agencies |
October 27, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
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SHOPS in the Thai capital began imposing emergency rationing yesterday as the prime minister warned parts of Bangkok could be flooded for up to a month and authorities called a special five-day holiday to give people the chance to leave.
An evacuation warning to residents of a riverside district some way from swamped northern parts of the city deepened anxiety as residents scrambled to stock up on food and water.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatrasaid: "We expect floodwater to remain in Bangkok for around two weeks to one month before going into the sea.
"We should not face water as high as two or three meters staying for two or three months as we have seen in other provinces."
Thailand's worst flooding in half a century has killed at least 366 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 in shelters and 720,000 people seeking medical attention.
With a high tide approaching in the Gulf of Thailand, Seri Supharatid, director of Rangsit University's Centre on Climate Change and Disaster, said the city's fate rested with river dykes.
He said: "In the worst-case scenario, if all the dykes break, all of Bangkok will be more or less flooded."
The economic damage is difficult to quantify, but the central bank has revised its growth forecast for southeast Asia's second-biggest economy to 3.1 percent this year from 4.1 percent earlier this month. The finance minister's projection was a gloomier 2 percent.
Flooding has forced the closure of seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces bordering Bangkok, causing billions of dollars of damage, disrupting international supply chains for industry and putting about 650,000 people temporarily out of work.
The cabinet on Tuesday agreed on a 325 billion baht (US$10.6 billion) budget to rebuild the country, while city authorities and the Commerce Ministry were meeting industrial estate operators, hotel chains, businesses and food producers to try to minimize the damage and kick-start a recovery.
Authorities have called a holiday from today until -Monday to allow people to leave Bangkok, although financial markets will remain open.
The rising tide could complicate efforts to drive water out to sea, putting more pressure on a city that accounts for 41 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
The floods are expected to take a toll on Thailand's tourism industry, which employs more than 2 million people and accounts for roughly 6 percent of GDP.
Tourism Minister Chumphol Silpa-archa said arrivals could be 500,000 to 1 million below the government's target of 19 million this year.
Three northern districts of Bangkok have been under water since Saturday, with army trucks driving through 1.5 meters of water carrying evacuees. Some people are being evacuated for a second time, with 4,000 in Don Muang moving to the province of Chon Buri.
The authorities have been pumping an estimated 8 billion cubic meters of water daily through canals and a river around the east and west of Bangkok toward the sea.
An evacuation warning to residents of a riverside district some way from swamped northern parts of the city deepened anxiety as residents scrambled to stock up on food and water.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatrasaid: "We expect floodwater to remain in Bangkok for around two weeks to one month before going into the sea.
"We should not face water as high as two or three meters staying for two or three months as we have seen in other provinces."
Thailand's worst flooding in half a century has killed at least 366 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, with more than 113,000 in shelters and 720,000 people seeking medical attention.
With a high tide approaching in the Gulf of Thailand, Seri Supharatid, director of Rangsit University's Centre on Climate Change and Disaster, said the city's fate rested with river dykes.
He said: "In the worst-case scenario, if all the dykes break, all of Bangkok will be more or less flooded."
The economic damage is difficult to quantify, but the central bank has revised its growth forecast for southeast Asia's second-biggest economy to 3.1 percent this year from 4.1 percent earlier this month. The finance minister's projection was a gloomier 2 percent.
Flooding has forced the closure of seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces bordering Bangkok, causing billions of dollars of damage, disrupting international supply chains for industry and putting about 650,000 people temporarily out of work.
The cabinet on Tuesday agreed on a 325 billion baht (US$10.6 billion) budget to rebuild the country, while city authorities and the Commerce Ministry were meeting industrial estate operators, hotel chains, businesses and food producers to try to minimize the damage and kick-start a recovery.
Authorities have called a holiday from today until -Monday to allow people to leave Bangkok, although financial markets will remain open.
The rising tide could complicate efforts to drive water out to sea, putting more pressure on a city that accounts for 41 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
The floods are expected to take a toll on Thailand's tourism industry, which employs more than 2 million people and accounts for roughly 6 percent of GDP.
Tourism Minister Chumphol Silpa-archa said arrivals could be 500,000 to 1 million below the government's target of 19 million this year.
Three northern districts of Bangkok have been under water since Saturday, with army trucks driving through 1.5 meters of water carrying evacuees. Some people are being evacuated for a second time, with 4,000 in Don Muang moving to the province of Chon Buri.
The authorities have been pumping an estimated 8 billion cubic meters of water daily through canals and a river around the east and west of Bangkok toward the sea.
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