Thailand Law Forum has just uploaded a a new video concerning the floods in Thailand. While Bangkok residents hoard bottled water and nonperishable food in anticipation of oncoming floods, disaster has already struck in Pathum Thani Province, located only 55 kilometers outside of the city. Residents who our reporter spoke with from safe locations inside the province reported that water levels in the province had reached waist and chest-high depths. Residents claimed that their homes had been completely submerged by the flooding, and that they had been forced to flee with their families to find shelter in safe locations. Equally upset were Pathum Thani locals who reported that the floods had dramatically impacted their sources of income, preventing workers and business owners from getting to work, or in many cases flooding the establishments. Perhaps the most disturbing revelations gained from our interviews were reports from locals that Pathum Thani residents had yet to receive any form of assistance from local or federal relief groups. One resident reported that he hadn’t eaten since that morning, and said that “no one is helping us”.
Thailand does not have a government relief agency, such as the US’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While the lack of organized relief teams available to help the residents of Pathum Thani and the multiple other provinces affected byThailand’s disastrous flooding is indeed horrifying, government-marshaled relief forces may not be the preferred response. The US government and FEMA’s widely criticized mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005 certainly can be in no way considered a “proper” response to natural disasters. The delayed federal response to the flooding of New Orleans, Louisiana led to hundreds of preventable deaths of city residents, many of who succumbed to thirst, injuries, and violence as they waited for relief. FEMA, in particular, is still facing accusations that the organization deliberately slowed relief efforts to make sure that the efforts were “organized”, with underestimating the amounts of refugees in various locations, with cutting off supplied to affected areas, as well as a milieu of other offenses. With a track record like FEMA’s, are federally-organized relief organizations really the way to go? What’s the best means of dealing with natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the current flooding in Thailand?
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