BANGKOK, Aug 28 – No Thai nationals in the US have been injured or killed in the Hurricane, reported Thani Thongphakdi, Deputy Director-General of the Department of information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Regarding assistance to Thai people in New York, he said that the ministry has instructed the Royal Thai embassy in Washington DC and the Royal Thai Consulate General in New York on Sunday to look after Thai people.
There are about 10,000 Thais in New York, 5,000 in Boston and 1,000 in North Carolina. Most of them are students, businesspeople, doctors and Thai restaurant owners and workers, he said.
Mr Thani also said the Thai consulate general in New York reported officials contacted Thai network, physician groups, the Thai Association in New York and seven Thai temples to help look after Thais in nearby areas and to find temporary accommodation for them. The residence of the Thai Consulate General has been opened as a special unit to take care of Thai people.
So far, a Thai national has evacuated from Manhattan designated disaster area affected by Hurricane Irene to stay at a temporary accommodation.
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Hurricane Irene tore into New York on Sunday, hammering Manhattan’s skyscrapers with fierce winds and threatening to flood the financial district after killing at least nine people along the US eastern seaboard.
