Thai PM:Government is ready to handle storms

BANGKOK, October 4 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that her government has been prepared for coping with impacts from approaching storms, expressing her confidence that there will be no persistent flooding in Bangkok, in particular. Yingluck confirmed her government's well-prepared measures to cope with the approaching storms, including Tropical Storm Gaemi forecast to pass through Thailand during October 5-8 and the "Phra Pirun" being formed in the South Chinas Sea, on Thursday, noting that water has been released from dams and from upstream-to-downstream waterways to the sea, as part of the prepared measures. Yingluck acknowledged that Bangkok is situated on a downstream area, making dredging of canals in the city becoming an important task to speed up flows of rainwater; while the installation of water pumps and water gaugers in flood prone zones in the capital are also needed, along with a close watch on the updated water situation at the city's focal and sensitive areas and the setting up of traffic management and control centres. According to the prime minister, the Thai Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has also set up its forward centres which have worked together with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration or BMA to handle the situation for the sake of public and national interests. Meanwhile, Governor of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) Weerapong Chaiperm told reporters that IEAT has opened a war room at its head office in Bangkok to closely monitor the updated water situation and to liaise with all parties concerned to save all local industrial sites from any serious flooding. (TNA)