Thailand's agencies concerned remain alert to cope with Storm Gaemi

BANGKOK, October 3 (TNA) - Agencies concerned in Thailand have remained alert to cope with the approaching Gaemi storm, which was forecast to hit all Thai regions shortly, beginning from the coming weekend. Chatchai Phromlert, new Director-General of the Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, told journalists on Wednesday that he has ordered his department's officials in all flood-prone areas to closely follow up updated weather reports issued by the Meteorological Department. Chatchai acknowledged that disaster relief officials in the Lower Thai Northeast and East have been particularly instructed to survey disaster-prone locations and to prepare warnings to people in their respective areas, and that forward relief centers have also been ordered to be set up in all areas at risk. According to the senior official, the Gaemi storm remained in the sea, about 800 kilometers from Vietnam's Da Nang City on October 3, and his department has also, among others, prepared high-powered pump trucks to speed up the drainage of water, probably resulting from the approaching storm. The senior official also said that the government’s Water and Flood Management Commission is scheduled on Thursday to convene governors of eastern Thai provinces which would face the storm first to prepare measures to cope with the Gaemi storm, and that his department is ready to cooperate with other concerned agencies, namely the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), to deal with any possible impact from the approaching storm. In a related development, Bangkok Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra called a meeting of directors of all 50 district offices in the capital to discuss measures prepared for coping with the approaching Gaemi storm, expected to affect up to 80 per cent of areas in the city. Sukhumbhand urged agencies concerned to install more pumps to drain out excess rainwater during any heavy downpour; while warning people of possible continual rainfalls over the next three weeks, insisting that the BMA is working with relevant agencies, including the Royal Irrigation Department, to handle the situation. Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, also under the Thai Ministry of Interior, plans to design new city flood-proof models for two major Thai cities first, the southern resort Phuket and the central Ayutthaya Provinces, to be proposed to authorities concerned after their completion. (TNA)