BANGKOK, 28 March 2013 Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi has assured Thais of the 350-billion-baht flood prevention project that the government is working with United States officials.
Speaking at a Thai-US workshop on flood risk reduction, Mr. Plodprasop, in his capacity as chairperson of the National Water and Flood Management Policy Committee, asked the people to put trust in flood prevention measures which the government is implementing in cooperation with related US officials who used to handle the deadly Hurricane Katrina that hit the US in 2005. The deputy prime minister said that the 350-billion-baht project would be able solve flood problems in the long run.
He said: We have to “understand water”, as suggested by the American experts. We cannot consider water as a threat, but instead, we need to manage it according to the country’s landscape. For example, dams and reservoirs need to be built in the upstream areas to absorb water and slow down the current, while in the midstream areas, detention basins are essential. And finally, the downstream areas need drainage ways to release as much water as possible to the open sea.
