Sattahip-based Royal Thai Navy personnel and ships are working nationwide to aid victims of devastating floods and prevent new ones.
Various divisions are sending both boats and barges to hardest-hit Ayutthaya, emergency supplies to Lopburi and sandbags to Bangkok to prevent the Chao Phraya River from flooding the capital’s downtown area.
Enlisted navy men fill sandbags destined to try and stop the surge of flood waters from the north.
The HTMS Chakri Naruebet took the lead for the central Thailand mission, using its helicopters to deliver rubber boats to the deluged region and sending two 12.6 by 3.7-meter barges from Sattahip’s Juksamet Port to transport evacuees.
In Lopburi, the Navy delivered 2,003 care packages prepared by HRH Princess Soamsawalee’s Princess Pa Foundation. The bags, packed Oct. 15 at U-Tapao Pattaya International Airport, consisted of donations collected by Bangkok and Siam Commercial banks.
Residents of Kongthanoo District received 1,607 relief packages for adults, 45 for monks and 351 for children.
Banks and the Thai Red Cross continue to take donations on behalf of the royal relief organization.
In addition to helping victims, the navy sought to prevent another crisis by shipping 40,000 sandbags to surround downtown Bangkok and block runoff that had raced down three rivers from hard-hit central Thailand, threatening to submerge the capital.
The Sattahip Naval Base’s Department of Building and Development used 400 marines to fill the bags that would comprise the 2-meter-tall barrier around the city. It took 25 trucks to carry the load to Bangkok.
