The current flood problem is considered very severe due to a huge amount of overflow inundating many provinces. More damages will certainly follow unless concrete water management is implemented. Water management, therefore, is a national agenda needed to be concerned seriously and ugently.
By solving this facing problem, the government needs to create unity and cooperates with every agency in order to work together in the same direction. Apart from the physical aids, the government should attempt to cope with mental effects experiened by flood victims. For example, when some people think that the government plays an unfair role in helping the flood victims, resulting in the fights among one another, the responsible authorities need to tackle the problem immediately by ensuring that assistance will be spreaded equally in every flood-hit provinces and clarifying that no priority is applied in any aspect to preevent differences and differentiations.
All sectors have to join hands in order to tackle this year flooding. Examples are the set up of the war room for monitoring the situation around-the-clock, the gathering of opinions from water specialists, the request for cooperation from every agency to implement the systematic flood resolution plans and order tasks to each sector. The government has a number of responsible units which can be headed by officials in different levels who can make such quick and strong decisions that the problems are solved direct to the point and right in time. The government has also ordered the cabinet and the MPs to pay attention to the peopple’s trobles quickly as well as operate their worka in their ministries.
Mr Sanya Cheenimitra, Director of Department of Drainage and Sewerage, announced that in Bangkok, the coming waterflow ran at 4,000 cubicmeter per second so the situation must be closely watched. Apart from the water released from the dams in the north, the continuous rainfall is also expected to pour while high sea tides are expected to arrive. In response to the criticsm regarding the water obstruction in an attempt to avoid flooding in Bangkok which cause floodings in other provinces instead, Mr Sanya said that Bangkok has always been developing the water development and managment since 1983 to generate prevention and resolution schemes to the flood problem. Until now, water pumping stations, water embarkments, drainage tunnels and flood prevention centers holding international standard have been constructed. It takes a great deal of time to come with these sophisticated strategies to take the water situation under control.
Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minsister Yongyuth Wichaidit who also chairs the committee meeting of deluge, landslide and drought problems management, revealed that the meeting resolution was a long-term solution which included constructing more Monkey Cheeks and dredging them to form large-sized filelds to retain water in every territory and every proivince ranging form the north to the south in Songkhla province. In addition, the water basin management plans derived from His Majesty the King’s speech are conducted altogether while the plan to construct more dams still has to be considered throroughly.
