News from Thailand – October 8, 2012
Conflicting information yesterday about tropical storm Gaemi. Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi warned of high waves of up to 4 meters in the Gulf of Thailand.
But the Meteorological Department and a disaster expert consider that unlikely because Gaemi has weakened into a depression. It reached the provinces of Sa Kaeo, Trat and Chanthaburi yesterday.
Thanawat Jarupongsakul, chief of natural disaster studies at Chulalongkorn University, says the storm will not rage across the sea. Waves in the Gulf of Thailand will average 30 cm at most.
Thanawat expects several areas in the East and Bangkok to experience heavy rain showers this afternoon. The meteo predicts that it will rain in 90 percent of Bangkok.
Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra says the capital is still facing flooding in the coming days. The army has 880.000 sandbags and relief supplies ready.
After it started raining in Sa Kaeo province yesterday afternoon, residents started dragging sandbags and erecting concrete walls.
6.000 sandbags have been brought to the Aranyaprathet district, which was hit by floods last month. They are distributed to residents in case of emergency.
Central Plains provinces such as Ayutthaya and Suphan Buri are not in danger of flooding, said Anond Snidvongs, assistant secretary general of the Water and Flood Management Commission.
– Anyone who takes it into his head to remove the sandbags from the sewers of the Srinakarin Road will be reported to the police by the municipality of Bangkok. The sandbags are there to prevent water from the Hua Mak channel from flowing into the sewage system, causing the Srinakarin road to flood.
– Five three-century-old temples and a mosque standing on the banks of the Chao Praya River are currently being restored by the Fine Arts Department (FAD). Last year they were damaged during the floods. At a cost of 35,5 million baht, the drainage systems will be improved, the floors will be raised and the surrounding landscape will be restored.
According to a study by the FAD, 313 archaeological sites were damaged across the country last year. The cost of recovery is estimated at 1,4 billion baht. Restoration takes six months to a year.
– The Foundation for Consumers and related groups will again file a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court. They demand that the gas pipelines by oil company PTT Plc be returned to the state.
In an earlier ruling (December 2007), the court already established that the state had invested in the pipelines before PTT was formed on October 1, 2001. PTT was the privatized continuation of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. The onshore pipelines have already been returned, but the offshore pipeline, which came into operation in 2007, has not.
PTT has only returned 16 billion baht, but according to the complainants, 52 billion should be returned. The court rejected the foundation's petition in 2007 because it is not an interested party. Requests to the Ministry of Finance and Energy followed, but they took no action.
The new complaint is provided with signatures of citizens, who, according to the foundation, are indeed interested. That money should flow back to the state so that it can be spent on a public interest purpose and not disappear into the pockets of a few individuals.
– Opposition party Democrats has asked the Ministry of the Interior to withdraw the permission for the sale of temple land to a private individual with retroactive effect. That permission was granted by Yongyuth Wichaidit, the outgoing minister, who was then deputy secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He ignored a ruling by the Council of State that temple land may not be sold.
After the sale, a golf course was built on the land in question and a residential area was built. The Democrats want only the golf course at Wat Thammikaram to be returned. The residents who bought a house in the residential area were in good faith and, according to the Democrats, should be protected. The party is also demanding legal action against the developers of the golf course and residential area.
– Rubber farmers from the South will demonstrate tomorrow at Government House. They demand that the Ministry of Agriculture quickly provide money for rubber purchases by the Rubber Estate Organization (REO). In total, the farmers still have to receive 453 million baht. The REO has bought up the rubber because rubber prices have fallen sharply.
– In the early morning of Sunday, the police on Petchaburi Road (Bangkok) arrested 62 teenagers who held street races. When the police arrived, about forty motorcyclists managed to escape.
At about the same time, Samut Prakan Police detained 59 teenagers on Theparak Road. The seized loot was impressive: 54 motorcycles, a rifle, 500 bullet cartridges, a ping pong bomb, two methamphetamine pills and four flares.
– A 36-year-old woman killed her 47-year-old husband, including beheading and dumping a bag with his corpse in a canal. Police were tipped off by a security guard who helped the woman get her belongings out of her room. He then saw a man's leg. Police are searching the channel for the remaining body parts.
– On a tanker loaded with LPG that was anchored in the Taphao Yai bay (Phuket), a fire broke out in the radio room yesterday morning. Marine personnel spent 2 hours extinguishing the fire. A small explosion occurred. Although the LPG had already been unloaded, bunker oil and diesel still posed a risk, but fortunately it turned out well.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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