Thai capital braces for flood disaster
BANGKOK. October 11. KAZINFORM Thailand's capital was braced for unprecedented flooding Tuesday, amid the monsoon rains that have overwhelmed much of the country and neighboring Cambodia in recent weeks; Kazinform refers to CNN.
So far 269 people have been killed in Thailand, according to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command. Some 60 of the country's 76 provinces have so far been affected, impacting some eight million people.
In Bangkok officials beefed up flood prevention measures as waterways, including the main Chao Phraya River, became bloated by rising water.
On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered canal dredging and reinforcement of flood-prevention embankments to protect the city, state-run news agency MCOT reported. In addition, three new flood-prevention walls were being built at two locations in Rangsit, in northern Bangkok, and in Taling Chan, in the western part of the city.
The government needs another 1.5 million sandbags, MCOT reported. The prime minister called on the private sector to supply them, but said the government will buy all the needed sandbags by Wednesday, the news agency said.
Meanwhile, around 1,200 people have taken shelter in a gymnasium at Bangkok's Thammasat University. Most of them are from neighboring Ayutthaya province and other flood-affected areas around the capital, said Thanawat Srisuwan, a volunteer at the makeshift shelter.
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