Thailand is experiencing the worst flood emergency of the last 50 years.
It started in August, when the water began to accumulate in the north province, sweeping its way to the central plains following its natural path. At the beginning of October, the situation was frantic. Many places were under 2 meters water and in others it was even higher. In many provinces of the “smile land” hundreds of thousand people were left without job, house and came down to street with empty handed.
After acknowledging the threats to the capital, the Thai Government had sand walls and dikes specially built around Bangkok to keep it dry. Nature conquered; some barriers naturally broke and various dikes had to open to contrast the pushing water pressure. Thus, flood arrived in the capital, and thousands of citizens became evacuated again from the soul of Thailand, Bangkok.
The current situation of Thailand defines the words “National Disaster” with 3.1 million affected people, more than 500 casualties and at least $10 billion of damages.
This emergency has reached such a dramatic dimension because of the inefficient management strategy it has been dealt with. Incomplete and contradicting news at first spread panic among people and now prevent any objective analysis of the situation, while political instability and the lack of a serious disaster prevention and management program create even more problems.
Thai peoples are the ones paying for the consequences of these dramatic events. They are easy-to-please people that pursue self-sufficiency, but now they are left with nothing. To help them, some of us, exchange students at Thammasat University in Bangkok, set up a website (www.thailandflood.org), with which to spread awareness about the emergency and to give donors the possibility to support economically the affected population. Also, additional information about the current situation is available there.
This really is the moment we can give voice to your humanitarian side – any contribution will help the millions of flood victims to go back to their normal life. Thanks
Irene Orlandi
irene.orlandi@stubocconi.it
Articles written by the various members of our team.
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Redazione TiL
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Redazione TiL
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Redazione TiL
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Redazione TiL
