Bangkok divided

AP has an account of the way that flooding has carved up Bangkok – and we mean the broader city. Some people are immersed in the “worst flooding in half a century. They float down trash-strewn waterways, paddling washtubs with wicker brooms over submerged neighborhoods.” Not all that far away, “you’ll find something else entirely: well-heeled shoppers perusing bustling malls decorated with newly hung Halloween decorations and couples sipping espresso in the air-conditioned comfort of ultra-chic cafes.”

The report continues: “Although catastrophic flooding has devastated a third of this Southeast Asian nation and submerged some of the capital’s northernmost districts, … [the] desperate images of disaster contrast sharply with scenes of total normality—from night-owls drinking cocktails in red-light districts to tourists enjoying relaxing foot massages in faux-leather chairs downtown.”

Most of inner Bangkok remains dry. However, the “catastrophe has put hundreds of thousands of people out of work and cost billions of dollars in damage — a bill that grows larger by the day.” And it is added: “Nobody knows how far the water will go…”.

It is noted that: “Panicked Bangkokians have stripped supermarkets and convenience stores of bottled water and dried noodles…”, prompting one of the people interviewed to comment: “A lot of people are overreacting, they’ve been hoarding too much stuff…. They watch the news and see people in other flooded provinces and think that’s going to happen to them here.”

Those Bangkokians ensconced behind flood barriers have escaped (so far) by the skin of their teeth and because governments (and many Bangkokians) have long held the view that flooding provincial areas was a good idea if it saved Bangkok. PPT reckons that view needs to change, but changing the long years of planning to flood others requires a lot of undoing and re-designing of infrastructure and, more challenging, changing attitudes.