27/10/2011 / THAILAND
Flood waters seeping into central Bangkok.
The streets of Bangkok are filled with sandbags in preparation for much more water to flow through the city this weekend.
A video created by a Thai nonprofit organisation explains the causes of the flood, and gives advice on how to prepare for rising waters.
Bangkok residents in a bind: flee rising waters, or stay?
Thousands of Bangkok residents have fled their homes as flood waters have been flowing into the capital. The government has ordered the city’s nine million-odd residents to take five days off work to either prepare for the flood, or leave town altogether.
Bangkok is expected to be washed by the equivalent of 480,000 Olympic swimming pools by the weekend. The northern part of the capital has already been heavily affected, and water is now moving towards the city’s centre.
Many residents have heeded the government’s warnings and packed their bags, crowding train and bus stations and causing massive traffic jams on the roads leading out of the capital.
“When we left last week, many people thought we were crazy. But now our friends are finally fleeing too”
Nuttaporn Surapitthayanon is a Bangkok resident who decided to flee.
My husband and I left Bangkok last week because we became convinced that 100 percent of the city would end up under water. We packed up all our belongings on our house’s first floor and stored them on the second.
Two weeks ago, when the threat started building, we decided to try and stay in Bangkok. We bought food and drinking water to last us a week. We had no problems buying food then. But as our supplies dwindled down, we realised it was becoming much harder to find food and water – there was much less of it at the stores near our home. And the big supermarket in our area was mobbed – we could not even find a parking space.
Then, a friend of ours in Ayutthaya [a city 85 kilometres north of Bangkok] lost his home. He told us the water arrived very quickly; he had not been warned about this and he couldn’t move any of his belongings out of his home in time. This scared us. We realised Bangkok might not be safe for us anymore because the government cannot say for sure how high the water will rise, or how long we might have to stay without water or electricity.
When we left, many people thought we were crazy. But now, our friends are finally fleeing too.”
“All the hotels are full, and all the roads are blocked, so it seems to be the wrong time to leave”
Martin Lee lives in Bangkok. He’s decided to stay in the city.
My neighbourhood, Min Buri, is dry as a bone. Thursday night people started to pour out of Bangkok, and so I wondered if I was doing the right thing by staying. However I live on the fourth floor of my building, and my supermarket still has plenty of food, except for noodles, which people seem to be hoarding. The ironic thing is that the more people flee, the more food there is left for me and the less of a rush there is to leave!
If it gets really bad, I might decide to get out of Bangkok, but I’m not sure where I would go. The management of the crisis leaves a lot to be desired. The government has given blanket recommendations for people to leave Bangkok. But this is very confusing – where would all nine million of the city’s residents go? All the hotels are full, and the roads are blocked, so it seems to be the wrong time to leave. These statements just create panic.”
“Two hours south of the capital, we are experiencing food shortages as many people relocate from Bangkok”
Jonathan Blaine lives in Hua Hin, about two hours south of Bangkok.
We are not affected by the flooding here; however we are experiencing shortages of water and foodstuff as many people relocate from Bangkok to our area. Hua Hin is a resort town, and now every rental house, condo and hotel room is rented out. With all these people hoarding basic necessities, the strain on resources is just crazy.
For example, the local 7-11 convenience store has no bottled water except Evian, which is selling for over a dollar and a quarter, so no one can afford it. Prices are steadily rising on most items. The other big supply stores have no bottled water, no fresh products, no canned goods, no rice – meanwhile, with the flood, little is being produced, so you can imagine what it will be like a few weeks from now. We now get most of our food from local farmer’s markets, but they too are running short on goods and raising prices on an almost daily basis.”
Comments
It is unfortunate what is
Submitted by Raul R (not verified) on Sat, 26/11/2011 - 00:56.It is unfortunate what is happening in Bangkok is really a catrastrofe, and hopefully the government will support them as they deserve, is not easy to recover from floods so great, amazing the equivalent number of pools.
Regards
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