'Every second counts' in battle to keep Bangkok from flooding
Source: Agencies |
October 18, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Thai capital needs 1.2 million sandbags for a six-kilometer wall within 48 hours to keep encroaching floods from swamping the city, Bangkok's governor said last night.
"Every second counts," said Sukhumbhand Paribatra, whose call for city residents not to drop their guard contrasted with government statements in the morning that the flood threat appeared to be easing.
Sukhumbhand said barriers had to be built up at several canals carrying overflow water from Pathum Thani province just north of Bangkok, where soldiers joined volunteers in trying to save the country's oldest industrial estate from being inundated.
Sukhumbhand has consistently taken a more cautious view of the flooding threat than the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who also heads a rival political party.
Officials in charge of fighting the flood suggested earlier yesterday that Bangkok would be spared thanks to the city's complex system of flood walls, canals, dikes and underground tunnels that help divert run-off south into the Gulf of Thailand.
Relentless monsoon rains that began in late July have affected two-thirds of the country, drowning agricultural land, swamping hundreds of factories and swallowing low-lying villages. The nationwide death toll has risen to 307, mostly from drowning.
Outside the capital, thousands of hungry people are struggling to survive in half-submerged towns. The military has been mobilized to help deliver relief supplies.
Fear of the potential economic costs was underlined in the effort yesterday to save the Nava Nakorn industrial estate in Pathum Thani, Thailand's oldest factory park.
Shortly after noon, the government's Flood Relief Operation Center ordered all factories there to halt work and prepare workers for evacuation after water started to break through makeshift barriers erected over the past few days.
Officials later said they managed to limit the flooding to under 10 percent of the estate.
At least four other major industrial parks have been inundated, leaving about 100,000 workers idle and disrupting supply chains, especially in the automotive and electronic industries.
"Every second counts," said Sukhumbhand Paribatra, whose call for city residents not to drop their guard contrasted with government statements in the morning that the flood threat appeared to be easing.
Sukhumbhand said barriers had to be built up at several canals carrying overflow water from Pathum Thani province just north of Bangkok, where soldiers joined volunteers in trying to save the country's oldest industrial estate from being inundated.
Sukhumbhand has consistently taken a more cautious view of the flooding threat than the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who also heads a rival political party.
Officials in charge of fighting the flood suggested earlier yesterday that Bangkok would be spared thanks to the city's complex system of flood walls, canals, dikes and underground tunnels that help divert run-off south into the Gulf of Thailand.
Relentless monsoon rains that began in late July have affected two-thirds of the country, drowning agricultural land, swamping hundreds of factories and swallowing low-lying villages. The nationwide death toll has risen to 307, mostly from drowning.
Outside the capital, thousands of hungry people are struggling to survive in half-submerged towns. The military has been mobilized to help deliver relief supplies.
Fear of the potential economic costs was underlined in the effort yesterday to save the Nava Nakorn industrial estate in Pathum Thani, Thailand's oldest factory park.
Shortly after noon, the government's Flood Relief Operation Center ordered all factories there to halt work and prepare workers for evacuation after water started to break through makeshift barriers erected over the past few days.
Officials later said they managed to limit the flooding to under 10 percent of the estate.
At least four other major industrial parks have been inundated, leaving about 100,000 workers idle and disrupting supply chains, especially in the automotive and electronic industries.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
