Anti-flood centres set up in Thailand

BANGKOK, October 4 (TNA) - Thailand's National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Committee has set up anti-flood centres at all provinces, as the approaching Gaemi storm was forecast to hit the country's all regions shortly with heavy downpours. The decision to set up the centres, aimed to also assist people in flood-affected areas, was made at Thursday's meeting in Bangkok of the committee, chaired by Thai Deputy Interior Minister Tarnis Thienthong. Tarnis told reporters that the move followed Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's recent order, acknowledging that the newly-set up forward centres will operate until the flooding situation in affected provinces relieves. Meanwhile, Adisak Khantee, Deputy Director of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s Drainage and Sewerage Department, suggested people in the capital not to panic over the Gaemi storm, as, according to the Meteorological Department's latest information, it is expected to weaken into a depression or a low pressure mass when it reaches Thailand and should not, thus, seriously affect Bangkok. BMA Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra is, however, scheduled to call a meeting with concerned agencies at the BMA's Drainage and Sewerage Department on October 6 to issue orders for immediate solutions to flooded-areas in the city, if any. Justice Minister Police General Pracha Promnog also met with senior ministerial officials to order that youths detained at nationwide centres under the supervision of his ministry's Department of Youth Observation and Protection be timely assisted if there was any flood flash in the centres' vicinity. (TNA)