With 3 updates: Floods challenge government

A Bloomberg photo

According to Bloomberg, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has said that the huge floods that have cost more than 250 260 lives are “Thailand’s worst floods in more than half a century … and threaten to swamp … Bangkok, as early as next week…”.

Yingluck said: “This will have a direct impact on Bangkok…. We have to admit that this is more serious than in the past.” She added: “The government is just a little more than a month old and it is difficult to cope with this situation because the volume of water is exceptionally high…”.

That’s all true, but Yingluck’s government will have to take the political fallout from the floods, much as Abhisit Vejjajiva’s administration did in 2010. To date there hasn’t been the incompetence of the government and corruption involved in the allocation of relief as seen under Abhisit, but such allegations won’t be far away.

An AP photo

PPT can’t help wondering what the situation might have been like if technicians had been able to adequately prepare for flooding over the past 3-4 decades? What would it have been like if the king – often claimed to be some kind of mystical but unqualified engineer – had not been seen by many as the lead player on water control?

Or is this the 1 in 100 year flood that no amount of flooding farmers in Ayudhya to save Bangkok scheme could have halted?

Update 1: A reader points out that the Democrat Party-led Bangkok city administration is relying on spiritual intervention to keep the floods at bay. The reader adds that in the years since the princely Sukhumbhand Paribatra has been governor, the storm drains have never been cleaned, despite residents pleas. At the same time, complaints that construction firms illegally dump waste down the drains have fallen on deaf ears. The reader says that even normal rainfall floods the sois in their area and the levels have been higher each year.

Update 2: PM Yingluck has seen the significance in political and human terms of this flooding. As well as expressing considerable concern about the floods and has been busy visiting flooded areas. She has also been pushing government and has cancelled overseas visits.

Update 3: Simon Roughneen has an article with plenty of pictures on the floods north of Bangkok and heading into the city (one is posted below and link is fixed).

Photo by Simon Roughneen