Muang Ake flood defense Oct 13th

[EugMax]

I know it is early days for that, but: Thank you Rangsit University, Satit Rangist, Thai army, civil workers, volunteers and donors of food and money. Your work is our blessing! Whatever is going to happen over the weekend, I am relived and feel good about getting through the weekend in a dry fashion. My thoughts are with the less fortunate ppl outside our village, as our blessing will cause problems for other villages downstream.

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See you next week y'all and thank you so much for reaching out to us :bullseye:

[EugMax]

Difference between Saturday + today Muang Ake flood defenses Saturday http://youtu.be/gfTiprN24n0 Thursday http://youtu.be/ALJ8PatT3tE #thaiflood

[Hellsing]

A big Thanks for reporting krub.
I'll show my dad your clip in this morning, he may probably take it easier.

By the way, me and Ja went around BangYai and Bangbuathong yesterday. Things are going quite well around there, sandbags are fully loaded and the flood start keep on decreasing.

[EugMax]

My big learning during the last days is to obtain trusted information by myself.

There is no crisis center being used as a central source of information for the whole country and we are flooded with dozens of stories that do not add up. Don Muang crisis center reported a broken damn yesterday and I got up to have a look only to find that I cld have stayed in bed.

Twitter and Facebook are accelerating intangible fears [There is nothing like a bit of panic to spice up ones life :)], mostly from ppl who aren't close to what is happening, whilst those who are faced with tragedy just deal with it.

What we need is a proper central crisis center [like the one we build and designed for the airport here] that takes central control, weighs information, instructs on next steps, communicates facts and trends without instilling unnecessary fear. Maybe it exits, i do not know, but i most certainly missed that kind of institution.

We should not be surprised that the army and civil workers stepped in - this is what we pay taxes for. But knowing Thailand a little I am grateful that they came to help and stayed.

To me it is the failure of this and the past government to manage this crisis in time, as they spend months bickering over inevitable political change and were taken by surprise [so it appeared last week]. Even when faced with disaster they spend the first weeks infighting before they finally showed restraint and did the right things to save the capitol.

In this case as in so many other cases, we can depend on the grassroots to get organized. Despite the way they are managed, they stick their heads together, put in their backs, make available private funds where actually government spending should be available, show a high degree of ingenuity, heartwarming compassion and come to save the day. Max and I made a lot new acquaintances over the last weekend. We did not really have a big impact on helping, what difference can the sandbags we filled and some kind words really make? For the last 5 days ppl along the klong are sitting in their homes in the water and still they do not loose their fighting spirit, stay happy, offer food to us [ i had my first noodle soup whilst sitting waist deep in water and got get to taste all kinds of delights offer from pick-up trucks that had come from as far as Nakorn Rachasima. Yes these guys actually drove to BKK to help], asked us to take pictures, sandbagging was done to the beat of music, everybody genuinely put up a brave face. We all knew that just 1/2 hr to the North and now to the East as well ppl are going thru hell :bullseye:

[dusadee2]

:2TU::2TU::2TU: BKK may survive or fall depend on your hands.

[EugMax]

someone rang at our door to tell me that water has ingress in the North of Muang Ake. So I called someone, who is working there and guess what: there is more water coming, but the barriers still hold :D I don't understand how ppl make up their news. Guess fear plays a big role in this. anyway looks like an other dry night for us .... and hopefully for you :bullseye: