BANGKOK, Oct 30 – As flooding continues in the capital, a poll found that 74.9% of Bangkok residents said the operations of the government and state agencies to help flood victims did not cover all areas.
However, 61.9% of respondents said they would give a chance to let Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra continued working on solving the flood crisis, according to the Asssumption University’s ABAC Poll released on Sunday.
Noppadol Kannikar, the ABAC Poll director revealed the poll results for ‘Grievance, Sacrifice and Giving the Government a Chance to Tackle Flood’ conducted among 1,457 Bangkok residents from October 28-29.
The majority, or 77.4%, were bored, stressed and worried about the flood problem. Slightly less, or 76.9%, said it was inconvenient for commuting in the city and 66.8% said they felt unsafe for their lives and properties.
Interestingly, 63.8% said they were not willing to evacuate or travel to other provinces to escape flooding because they are worried about their homes and belonging or needed to stay to take care of the elderly and small children.
However, what a majority wanted from the prime minister to help flood victims was to urgently improve operations of the police, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA).
Meanwhile, 70.2% said they wanted the prime minister to order help to access all areas and to ensure officials treat flood victims impartially, and 68.4% wanted her to solve the problem of increased consumer goods prices. About 65% said they wanted to see arrests of looters in flood–hit areas.
Furthermore, 40.6% said they felt very confident in the government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) tackling the flood problem, as 22.8% said they were confident and 23.9% said they were skeptical and 12.7% said they were not confident at all.
Regarding positive observations during the flood crisis, most poll respondents, or 89.4%, said they saw great support and generosity of their compatriots.
Meanwhile, a poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University or Suan Dusit Poll showed that Bangkok residents thought that Bangkok would be protected from flood, as it was the capital city and main economic zone.
Suan Dusit Poll surveyed public opinion of 2,136 residents of Bangkok and provinces that were affected by flooding as well as flood victims that moved to stay at shelters. The poll was conducted over the period of Oct 26-29.
According to the poll, 37.83% of the respondents said they did not think Bangkok would be flooded, while 33.57% were unsure because of confusing information, as some groups confirmed Bangkok would be hit by flood while some groups said the capital could avoid it.
Some 28.60% said they believed Bangkok would flood because of the huge amount of water, as surrounding provinces were flooded and it could overflow to Bangkok.
Asked whether they would evacuate if their homes were inundated, 68.07% said they would not move out because they did not want to leave their homes behind to thieves and because of difficulty in transportation.
As for relief aid, 84.88% said they received assistances from the military, followed by mass media-80.24%; 71.11% from the government, and 70.22% from Bangkok Governor, officials and volunteers.
Most respondents, or 93.19%, said the military has devoted themselves in tackling flood crisis; followed by the premier, mass media, BMA and government officials with 91.06, 88.48, 73.97 and 71.63% respectively.
