More reporting on floods

Bang Pa-In Industrial Estate flooded (Bangkok Post photo)

As PPT noted in our first post on these 2011 floods, the Yingluck Shinawatra government is bound to be held responsible for failures on handling the massive floods that have now claimed more than 300 lives. Over the past two days, the government has rightly been chastised for its lack of clear communications on flooding. National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission member Supinya Klangnarong has some reasonable advice. She

urged television channels to pool their resources so that coverage isn’t duplicated. “It’s up to the Broadcasting Journalists Association to decide,” she said. As for online social media such as Twitter, of which Supinya is an active user, the commissioner urged people of various political stripes to “calm down” and not get bogged down in attacking one another.

She also made an acute observation that deserves attention:

Bangkok, she warned, would have to deal at some stage with the question of why it is necessary to sacrifice other areas by allowing them to be flooded in order to save the capital. The matter would have to be addressed “decisively” by the government, she said.

More reports listed below. See also National Geographic’s photos. Apologies if we repeat post items. It is difficult to keep up:

1. Floods threaten to inundate Bangkok ‎ABC Online By South-East Asia correspondent The Thai military and civilian volunteers are continuing their efforts to try and stop Thailand’s worst floods in decades … In-Depth: Frazzled over floods? Remember: The tide will turn‎ Bangkok Post

2. US sends disaster experts to assess help Bangkok Post The US would draw on know-how from the Federal Emergency Management Administration to help Thailand with its flood relief efforts said Foreign Minister …

3. Prioritise water management ‎Bangkok Post He said Thailand’s worst floods in decades were exacerbated by poor urban planning. Deforestation, overbuilding in catchment areas, the damming and …

4. Fourth Ayutthaya estate falls ‎Bangkok Post Massive floods swamped a fourth major industrial estate in Ayutthaya … Narapot Tewtanom, deputy governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, …