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Flooding in Thailand. - by Tony 09/11/2011 @ 01:29

Floods in Thailand.

  

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 For hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists who are planning to visit Thailand in the coming days (or weeks), very difficult from Paris, Brussels and Geneva to get an accurate picture of the flooding currently affecting kingdom, and particularly the capital. Between catastrophism media misinformation and reality on the ground, the truth is probably somewhere else ...


What happens today? What will happen tomorrow? Do I confirm my trip, push, cancel it? What can I expect when landing in Bangkok? At what risk am I exposed? I venture to put my health at risk? Can I visit the Royal Palace, and out of Bangkok? The neighborhood where I booked my hotel is it flooded? The airport is protected? So many questions that every traveler on the move arises, and why it can not find reassuring answers. Yet!

Get your health or your life in danger?


No. Unless you bathe in the putrid waters of klongs (canals) and flooded streets, or you risk putting your health at risk, or you drown! Health risks exist, but no epidemic has been reported since last three months as floods (more than 2 million people affected). The risks are mainly people who do not want to leave flooded areas, relief workers who work and those who for one reason or another, wade in the water. As for crocodiles and snakes that have been reported here and there in the flooded districts, you are less likely to fall on than get bitten by a mosquito! Foreign media, hypnotized, have dealt a news item - eight crocodiles escaped from a private farm in the suburbs north of Bangkok and soon captured or killed - as is sensational, as to suggest that the city is under the control of these charming creatures and other poisonous snakes. Thai version Jurassic Park, Spielberg mocks.


As for the risk of being swept away by a wall of water two meters, version tsunami that would engulf Bangkok River and its inhabitants, then it borders on the ridiculous. Water bodies that have flooded the central plains before accumulating around the capital flooded neighborhoods, but are not pouring like a torrent of mud. The City of Bangkok, aided by the police and the army, ordered and organized the evacuation of threatened areas in order to allow time for residents to leave. And if you have not heard or followed the advice of an evacuation, you will always have the option to pack, where to stay in your hotel room and get them delivered meal trays of the Red Cross .. .


It is also important to remember that no street, no quarter, no village, no house is cut off from the world or inaccessible, the country had mobilized for disaster relief.


The floods have already claimed over 500 victims across the country.


True. Electrocution, drowning or neglect, the government regularly publishes figures without giving the main causes of death. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to poor health conditions in flooded areas. But according to information from the Thai Ministry of Health published in local newspapers or cholera or other communicable diseases are to be deplored.


We can not find clean water or food in Bangkok?

Faux. Under no circumstances and regardless of the situation you are in, fuss does the worst, you might die of thirst or of finding nothing to eat, even in areas where flood relief ensure the drinking water and food for those who stayed.

True. It is difficult to find bottled water and some food products, mainly in department stores and supermarkets, the first to have been robbed by people panicked.

If the chains continue to face supply problems, many small businesses are organized in Bangkok and sell bottled water. Not to mention the tens of thousands of restaurants, shops and bars of the capital that offer bottled water to their customers. In the worst case, you can always count on a French brand that does not move due to much higher prices than the local mineral water.

This also applies to food products. If some are found (chips, instant noodles, milk products ...), and so many basic commodities are scarce, fresh produce such as meat, eggs, bread, fish and vegetables have never missed. And as for the French mineral water, red meat is found most easily, most expensive, mainly Thais eating pork and chicken.


Nearly half of Bangkok is flooded?

Yes. About 40% of the districts of the capital are affected by the floods. This does not mean that all the streets and avenues in each district are concerned, let alone are in two feet of water. The level can reach one meter in some places and one foot to another, allowing the passage of vehicles. As for the boats, they are used primarily to transport people who cross the flooded areas to go home. For information, the authorities estimate that about one million Bangkokois are concerned, for a population of 12 million people.


The center is at risk?


Yes. No Buttes Chaumont and Montmartre in Bangkok, no part of the capital who are not immune. But the heart of the city, which is a very important area and houses millions of people, is best protected. Grouping together the business district, the heart of tourism, historic, commercial, residential, port, the largest wholesalers and markets the largest slum in the country (Klong Toey), he always remained dry, the exception of a few places where water has penetrated, then quickly withdrew.

Chinatown and the Royal Palace (Wat Pra Kheo) they are under water?

No. They are among the places affected during major tidal coefficients of ten days ago (Bangkok is close to the sea), where the Chao Praya River, which winds on the south side of the capital, overflowed in places. But since the water has receded, and all the sights of the historic district (Royal Palace, National Museum, Dusit Zoo, China Town, Bobae Market, Flower Market, etc.) are open to the public. Both banks of the river where the big hotels are located as the Oriental are also saved with the exception of some neighborhoods right bank (Thon Buri).


Khao San Road, the backpacker district, also remained dry. The weekend market (Chatuchak) is located in an area partially flooded, but was open to the public Saturday.

Other destinations are affected?


Yes. Even if the water has receded Ayutthaya, access remains difficult. This historic city is part of the circuit "classic" that takes tourists to the North, via Lopburi (flooded), Sukhothai, Lampang, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. These last three locations, as well as two thousand kilometers of coastline, do not experience flooding problems.

Under a blue sky that has settled over the last ten days of the kingdom, announcing the start of the tourist season (November-February), hotels recorded an occupancy rate low for this time of the years. But the negative images of floods and catastrophism exacerbated by local and foreign media, the lack of accurate information due to a crisis management by the government highly controversial, and the preventive recommendations of some countries not to travel to Thailand, sealed this season, however promising, after a year 2010 marked by serious political events.

The Bangkok International Airport operates normally does?

Yes. The airport authority will want very reassuring. Protection systems from Suvarnabhumi Airport have been designed to prevent flooding. Access to capital remains normal. The pictures of airplanes trapped by the waters have turned into loops on all foreign television channels last week on the old Bangkok International Airport, Don Mueang, which usually only hear a few domestic flights, and equipment shown n 'were no longer in service.

Can we come and go easily from Bangkok by road and train?

Yes and no. Access to the East Coast (Pattaya, Chonburi, Rayong, Trat) no problem. The road to the north and north-east is more difficult. The axis of circumvention Chachoengsao is very crowded, doubling or even tripling the travel time. This morning, the authorities announced that access to the south (Cha-am, Hua Hin, Surat Thani, Krabi, Phuket ...) by Rama II could be flooded in the coming days.

It is recommended to all travelers on the road, bus or train to be well informed before they leave. Some bus stations located in flooded areas had to be temporarily displaced.

Is it better to cancel the trip?

Less than undergo the policy of "zero risk" of Tour Operators, or to have the conviction to "risk his life," or be paralyzed with fear "of getting cholera," or not wanting having, perhaps, change its route, or having, perhaps, spend a little more time on a train or bus, or having, perhaps, change hotels in Bangkok, or to find at worst feet in the water, no reason, except to add a little more misery Thais, seems sufficient to cancel such a beautiful trip.



Gavroche Thailand, thank you to for the info. :)

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