Short news from Thailand
Short flood news 27 November
A hole of 2,5 meters has been made in the big bag barrier (a flood wall with sandbags of 30 tons) along the Vibhavadi-Rangsit road. The Flood Relief Operations Command, the crisis center of the government, decided to take this action under pressure from residents living north of the embankment. Earlier they had blocked Vibhavadi-Rangsit road and removed sandbags.
– Advisor Uthen Chartpinyo of the water management committee has proposed making three or four holes of 10 meters every 700 meters in the north-south axis of the flood wall. The holes would accelerate water drainage to Khlong Prem Prachakorn. If the situation gets out of hand, the holes can be closed again. However, the problem is that the canal is full of waste and that many people have illegally built houses in it, so that the water flows slowly.
– In the northern districts of the capital, the water is falling, including in Don Muang. In other districts, the water has completely disappeared, Prime Minister Yingluck said in her weekly radio talk on Saturday.
– On Saturday, residents of 13 neighborhoods protested in the district of Thanyaburi (Pathum Thani), which borders the district of Don Muang (Bangkok). They demanded that the Froc dismantle part of the flood barrier that lies along Khlong Rangsit. The residents concerned have been dealing with flooding for a month now. The residents threaten to demolish the rampart themselves if the Froc does not take action.
– The Phraya Suren weir rises from 1,05 to 1,5 meters to accommodate the residents of Lam Luk Ka (Pathum Thani) district.
– In the province of Songkhla in the South of Thailand has raised alarm that unusually heavy rains in Malaysia could cause widespread damage. Eight districts have already been declared disaster areas; the Malaysian water is likely to flow into the Sadao border district. Water is already spreading in the province; large parts of Muang district have been affected.
The provinces of Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Naratwhiwat have also experienced heavy rain and flooding in recent days. In the province of Yala, 5 districts have been declared a disaster area: 930 people have sought refuge elsewhere, 23.000 people have been duped. In Patthalung province, 147 families have moved their livestock to higher ground. There is a landslide warning. Narathiwat has 13 disaster areas; 1.200 rai of farmland has been destroyed.
– The trains on the Northeastern Line will run their normal route again. They temporarily made a detour via Chachoengsao because part of the track section was under water. Because there is still water in some places, the trains to the North and Northeast will reduce their speed or stop if necessary when the situation calls for it. There are 18 trains running on these routes daily. The Southern Line will also run according to schedule again.
Short other news 27 November
– Manslaughter The police have arrested a company driver of the steel company Danieli Far East Co in Rayong who had beaten his chief of personnel to death. The two had gotten into an argument in the office when the boss told him that he and some colleagues were redundant. The driver took the knocked-out chief in his car, assaulted the man again when he came to, this time fatally, and dumped the body in Samut Prakan.
– Sex workers Four 'influential persons' run a human trafficking network in the North. They have Burmese women smuggled across the border from Chiang Mai, put them to work in massage parlors in Chanthaburi and when they give birth they go to Bangkok. In early November, the Department of Special Investigation freed 67 Burmese sex workers from a massage parlor in downtown Chantaburi. The DSI took action because the local police had not responded to complaints from a women's rights organization. The DSI tries to track down the human traffickers.
– Dog meat Sixty dogs do not end up as a tender piece of meat on a Vietnamese plate. They were intercepted on their way to the Mekong in a pick-up truck. The driver of the car managed to escape after the police stopped him. This year, 721 dogs were rescued from a Vietnamese hospitality destination.
– Thai Rak Thai At the end of May, the political ban of 111 politicians from Thai Rak Thai, Thaksin's party, which was banned 5 years ago, will end. One of them, Suwat Liptapanlop, says that the former TRT politicians will enliven politics. Suwat then merged his Chart Pattana party with Thai Rak Thai, which also banned him from all political office for the past 5 years.
– Medicines The Food and Drug Administration and the Government Pharmaceutical Organization plan to shorten the registration deadline for imported medicines to solve the shortage of medicines caused by the floods. The measure applies to five medicines. Drug manufacturers affected by the floods are temporarily allowed to hire other companies to produce drugs for them. The GPO, which is outside the registration procedure, has been asked to import 32 essential medicines to avoid a shortage in the domestic market.