Thais race to protect capital from floods
Source: Agencies |
October 11, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THAI authorities are rushing to build sandbag barricades in the capital to protect it from the worst floods in decades that have already killed almost 270 people across the country.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that government workers have two days to build three major water barricades before runoff from the north reaches Bangkok. Unusually high ocean tides are expected to worsen the floods.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said 269 people have died, mostly from drowning, since tropical storms began hitting Thailand at the end of July. It said 8.2 million people in 60 of the country's 77 provinces have been affected by floods and mudslides, and 30 provinces are currently inundated.
Yingluck said she didn't know if Bangkok would be protected from the flooding.
"It is really hard to tell because it's difficult to predict the volume of water," she said. "But I insist, if we can complete the three main water barriers within the next day or two, Bangkok will be safe."
The government planned to use 1.5 million sandbags to build the barriers but was 100,000 short yesterday.
Floods also inundated Thailand's eastern neighbor Cambodia, where at least 207 people have died since August, when waters from the Mekong River and mountainous areas rushed into lowland areas, said Nhim Vanda, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management. The dead included 83 children.
The floods have affected 1.2 million people and damaged more than 1,000 schools and 400 Buddhist temples, Nhim Vanda said. He said the waters also swept away some 600 houses and destroyed 160,000 hectares of rice fields.
The flooding is the deadliest to hit Cambodia since 2000, when 374 people died.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that government workers have two days to build three major water barricades before runoff from the north reaches Bangkok. Unusually high ocean tides are expected to worsen the floods.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said 269 people have died, mostly from drowning, since tropical storms began hitting Thailand at the end of July. It said 8.2 million people in 60 of the country's 77 provinces have been affected by floods and mudslides, and 30 provinces are currently inundated.
Yingluck said she didn't know if Bangkok would be protected from the flooding.
"It is really hard to tell because it's difficult to predict the volume of water," she said. "But I insist, if we can complete the three main water barriers within the next day or two, Bangkok will be safe."
The government planned to use 1.5 million sandbags to build the barriers but was 100,000 short yesterday.
Floods also inundated Thailand's eastern neighbor Cambodia, where at least 207 people have died since August, when waters from the Mekong River and mountainous areas rushed into lowland areas, said Nhim Vanda, deputy chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management. The dead included 83 children.
The floods have affected 1.2 million people and damaged more than 1,000 schools and 400 Buddhist temples, Nhim Vanda said. He said the waters also swept away some 600 houses and destroyed 160,000 hectares of rice fields.
The flooding is the deadliest to hit Cambodia since 2000, when 374 people died.
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