Flood Victims in Pondok Labu Received Free Medi

Flood victims in Pondok Labu Urban Village, South Jakarta, are starting to suffer from various diseases. At least 45 patients from five RTs in RW 03, which are flooded since yesterday, have been noted visited the Pondok Labu Urban Village Healthcare Post to get medical treatment.

“Most of them suffered from diarrhea, acute respiratory infections (ISPA), itchy, cough, and flu,” stated Head of Pondok Labu Community Health Center (Puskesmas), Endang Ariastiwi, Monday (10/31).

According to her, most of the people who come for treatment are mothers and children. However, the medication given from healthcare post is only temporary medication. “Later on, if someone had serious disease, we will refer the patient to sub-district Puskesmas or hospital,” she added.

All patients of flood victims are freed from medication fees as long as they bring ID card (KTP) that shows their residence. “They just mention their residence location along with ID card so we can identify them as flood victim,” she added.

Post flood, Endang continued, more patients will come. “Therefore, we have prepared mobile puskesmas which able to visit flood locations,” he said.

Beside free medication treatment, the personnel in the healthcare post were also giving away floor cleaner liquid and water cleaner tool. “This floor cleaner liquid would clean bacteria from flood, while the water cleaner tool could rapidly clean dirt in water so that people will be able to drink the water,” she explained.

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Bangkok flood defenses hold amid high tides

BANGKOK—The complex network of flood defenses shielding Thailand's capital from the worst floods in nearly 60 years mostly held Saturday as coastal high tides hit their peak. While the city center was protected, Bangkok's northern outskirts remained inundated along with much of the rest of the country.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the floodwaters that have wreaked havoc to provinces north of Bangkok in the last several weeks had started to recede, and she urged citizens to let the crisis take its course.

"We have the good news that the situation in the central region has improved as runoff water gradually decreased," she said in a radio address Saturday. "I thank people and urge them to be more patient in case this weekend is significant because of the high tide."

Fear gripped Bangkok early in the day as tides along the Gulf of Thailand crested at about 9 a.m. and pushed the city's main waterway, the Chao Phraya river, to its brink. Overflows so far have lightly inundated riverside streets from Chinatown to the famed Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

But the white-walled royal Grand Palace was dry, less than 24 hours after being ringed by ankle-deep water, and the landmark remained open to tourists. Many visitors carried parasols to protect themselves from the blistering sunshine.

Two more coastal high tides were set to swell the Chao Praya river early Saturday evening and Sunday morning, continuing to put pressure on the city's dikes and sluices. Still, the fact that there were no major breaches in the defenses with Saturday morning's expected peak encouraged many.

Yingluck said Saturday that the government had implemented a plan to accelerate the drainage rate and that water in the greater Bangkok area should recede by the first week of November.

Meanwhile, the streets of downtown Bangkok -- the country's financial heart -- were bone-dry and bustling with taxis, restaurant-goers and tourists snapping pictures. But the city remained in peril, as high tides along the gulf were expected to crest again late in the day, threatening to obstruct the flood runoff from the north. The government also is worried major barriers and dikes could break.

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Thai flood damage likely to cost Bt100-200 bln, to shrink GDP by 2%: World Bank

BANGKOK, Oct 20 - Thai flood’s damage is likely to cost at least Bt100 billion and perhaps even amount to more than Bt200 billion and to shrink the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by two per cent, Kirida Bhaopichitr, World Bank senior economist for Thailand said on Thursday.

Thai economic growth in the fourth quarter is projected to be negative. However, the World Bank must continue monitoring the situation for further assessments as the flood crisis has not ended yet.

Thai economic growth will be revised downward about December, from earlier projected growth of 3.7 per cent.

But the Thai economy in 2012 is likely to expand more quickly than the World Bank’s projection at 4.2 per cent indicates due to Thailand’s post-flood rehabilitation projects now being considered, which will boost economic activities in the country as well as GDP growth, Ms Kirida said.

In the short term, foreign investors will not relocate their production bases elsewhere as Thailand’s basic infrastructure and regulations facilitate investment. Currently Thailand ranked 17th having moved upward from its 19th ranking among 183 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Report on measures of whether regulations make doing business easier or harder.

For the medium- and long-term, foreign investor decisions depend on the government’s post-flood measures and new standards to protect industrial estates from flooding in the future.
The World Bank believes it is time for Thailand to have and apply effective water management because from 2014-2015, China will start operations of five or six dams which will affect water conditions further downstream in the Mekong River and in Thailand.

The government’s plan to seek loans for the necessary rehabilitation work can be done as Thailand’s public debt is still low. The Bt 400 billion loan, accounting for four per cent of GDP, will not cause problems with the country’s fiscal position as rehabilitation projects will help stimulate the economy. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) decision to keep the interest rate unchanged at 3.5 per cent is deemed appropriate. However, post-flood inflationary pressure must be closely monitored.

The bank will send specialists to jointly assess damage incurred from flooding with Thailand’s Finance Ministry. It is ready to offer financial assistance to Thailand for rehabilitation, the bank economist said.

BoT Board Chairman Jatumongkol Sonakul said the Thai economy will be able to revive from flooding within one to two months and the impact is not likely to prolong to the first quarter of next year provided that repairs to damaged production machinery will take a short time to complete. Moreover, purchase orders have not been disrupted.

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All eyes on The Head - Nerriga Pub - October 2011

Nerriga Pub - October 2011

                                   A FEW OF THE CREW FROM HDFORUMS AUSTRALIA
                           

Wary Bangkok bolsters flood barriers

BANGKOK, October 18, 2011 - Thai troops raced Tuesday to pile more than a million sandbags onto floodwalls on the edge of Bangkok due to renewed concern that the defences might not hold back the worst inundation in decades.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, facing the first major test of her two-month-old premiership, has expressed confidence that the low-lying capital will be spared from floods that have killed at least 315 people in the kingdom.

But the authorities have failed to protect a number of major industrial parks from the gushing brown water, and Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra warned that the threat to the capital had not yet passed.

He said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) would raise the floodwalls in the northern outskirts of the city by half a metre (20 inches), using up to 1.2 million sandbags.

“BMA is expected to complete this task within 48 hours,” Sukhumbhand said late Monday, adding that the central government had promised one million sandbags and residents were being urged to help produce more.

He said later while inspecting the construction of dykes in outer Bangkok that he could not guarantee they would hold.

“But it is as stable and strong as we can do,” he added.

Yingluck said the authorities would double the thickness of flood protection dykes at Bangkok’s main airport, Suvarnabhumi, which is operating as usual.

The cabinet endorsed a plan to increase the budget deficit in the current fiscal year by 50 billion baht ($1.6 billion) from the earlier target, to 400 billion baht, to fund a post-flood relief and recovery plan.

Three months of heavy monsoon rains have damaged the homes and livelihoods of millions of people and forced tens of thousands to seek refuge in shelters.

Currently about one third of Thailand’s provinces are affected by the floods, which reached several metres deep in places.

On Monday the authorities ordered the evacuation of the country’s oldest industrial estate, Navanakorn — located near Bangkok — after water overwhelmed defences at the site, which houses more than 200 factories.

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Asia Floods Take Heavy Toll on Local Economies

Floodwaters in central Thailand have inundated industrial parks and manufacturing centers, adding to the mounting economic costs of the disaster. Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos are also continuing to tally the cost of heavy flooding that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Economists fear Thailand's most severe floods in decades may cost the country $5 billion and reduce its gross domestic product by about one percent.

The economic toll is already being felt in the country's industrial heartland, where floods breached the walls of major industrial estates. The damage has shut Honda and Toyota automobile assembly plants that account for about seven percent of their combined global production.

More water is expected in the country's manufacturing center as well as the capital, Bangkok. Together the industrial areas produce nearly one-half of Thailand's national output.

Bhichit Rattakul is executive director of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. Bhichit says floods may take up to two months to disperse, with the main body of water still to reach outer Bangkok.

"It's not easily over," said Bhichit. "[It could last] at least another 50 days because the volume of the water is still up in the north; it's not even at Ayutthaya or Bangkok yet. I mean at Ayutthaya we don't see any piece of land at all now; all we see is the water. It's all submerged. The main part of the water is still in Nakhon Sawan area. So you need some time to drain it out."

Officials from the Thai Industry Ministry say up to eight industrial estates and parks that employ over 200,000 highly skilled workers are under threat from floods.

Economists warn Thailand's growth rate will be hit, especially in the fourth quarter of 2011. Thanomsri Fongarunrung, a senior economist with Phatra Securities, says the impact on industrial production is a key concern for the economic outlook.

"Our concern is that the major area in the central area that is mainly the manufacturing of automobile, electronics, right now that is under flood and the major threat is that is comes through to Bangkok," said Fongarunrung.

While authorities warn Bangkok is at risk for flooding in the coming days, much of the damage so far has been in rural and agricultural areas in Southeast Asia.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said the flooding across countries bound by the Mekong River system - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos - had led to the loss of over 550 lives. In Cambodia, efforts to assist communities had been hampered by high waters and dangerous road conditions.

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Tropical depression kills at least 16 in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (BNO NEWS) -- At least sixteen people were killed on Wednesday when torrential rains from a tropical depression hit several regions of Guatemala, officials said. The death toll is expected to rise.

Tropical Depression 12-E formed near the Mexico-Guatemala border on early Wednesday morning, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) southeast of Salina Cruz in Mexico, triggering Guatemala's National Disaster Reduction Coordination Center to activate a nationwide red alert.
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The heavy rainfall began on Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, causing landslides, overflowing rivers, and accidents. The depression is expected to weaken and dissipate on Wednesday evening, forecasters said, but the harsh weather is expected to continue into Thursday.

Among the 16 confirmed deaths in Guatemala, four were electrocuted and one was buried in the municipality of Almolonga in the Quetzaltenango department. Several others died after their homes collapsed, while rescue workers recovered a couple of bodies from a river in Chiquimulilla, a municipality in the Santa Rosa department.

The most affected regions include Quetzaltenango, Santa Rosa, Jutiapa, and Totonicapan, as well as other scattered areas in the country. More than 130,000 people in Guatemala have been affected by the severe weather, but there were no immediate reports of casualties from Mexico.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, who offered his condolences, has called on residents around the country to be extra careful.

Twelve-E is the twelfth storm of the 2011 Eastern Pacific hurricane season, following Hurricane Irwin which remains active as a tropical storm about 415 miles (670 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California in Mexico.

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Thailand races to defend Bangkok from floods

Workers in Thailand are racing to complete floodwalls of sandbags on the outskirts of Bangkok to stop the country's worst floods in years from inundating parts of the capital.

Further north, Thailand's plains are also severely flooded.

In the province of Ayutthaya - one of the worst-affected areas - people have been moving to evacuation shelters.

At least 270 people from across Thailand have died in the floods since July.

Heavy monsoon rains, floods and mudslides have affected 58 of Thailand's 77 provinces since July, particularly the north, north-east and central plains, and 30 provinces are inundated.

Monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms have killed hundreds of people in the past four months across south and south-east Asia, China and Japan.
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At the scene
image of Rachel Harvey Rachel Harvey BBC News, Ayutthaya

The car park in front of the provincial government building here has been turned into a relief centre. There are tented canvas awnings that have been set up, and inside all the donated relief supplies are being kept dry.

I can see a tower of egg cartons, bags of rice, some fresh vegetables and volunteers from the Red Cross in front of me here are cooking a hot meal for people who have had to be evacuated.

The military is on hand here as well. They are helping with the evacuation and trying to organise things as best they can, but even here on the outskirts of the car park, the flood waters are encroaching. I am up to my ankles in water at the moment, and it is gradually moving its way into the car park. So I do not know how long they are going to be able to keep this as a dry area.

Thai workers are hurrying to fill sandbags and complete three crucial floodwalls to protect Bangkok from water flowing down from the north of the country.

Rescue workers hastily built a floodwall in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok, where strong currents burst a river embankment, flooding homes.

About 2,000 people have crammed into an evacuation centre in Pathum Thani, many from the neighbouring province of Ayutthaya.

High estuary tides are also expected to arrive in Bangkok in the coming days.

Bangkok is only two metres (6.5 ft) above sea level, and the government is trying to tackle a shortage of sandbags for flood defences.

Supermarket shelves have been cleared by shoppers of basic items such as rice, bottled water, pork and chicken.

Flood damage to agricultural land in the north of the country is expected to push up food prices, rice in particular.

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A few of the original Warragamba riders - Oberon - 1970's

                              STOCKY , DEWBOY , MORGO , RED ,  FATHEAD and WAYNE

FEMA Opens Hurricane Irene Recovery Center

Bronx residents who were affected by Hurricane Irene now have an opportunity to receive some extra assistance.

For the next two weeks, the Bronx County Courthouse at 851 Grand Concourse will serve as a Federal Emergency Management Agency Disaster Recovery Center, helping business owners, home owners, and anyone else severely affected by Hurricane Irene, which hit the borough on Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August 28.

FEMA officially opened the center to Bronxites on Monday, September 26 and will continue to operate until Friday, October 7. It will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The center is fully staffed with disaster-recovery specialists who will provide information and answer questions about hurricane-related issues. Although Hurricane Irene did not hit the Bronx as bad as originally predicted, the federal government officially declared the borough eligible to receive federal disaster aid for individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations.

“For the time that we are here we urge residents of the Bronx to take advantage of what can be provided for them if they were affected by the hurricane,” said center manager Deborah Carter. “We will absolutely help anyone who comes in here and although the decisions of how the government is going to help them is not made right away, it is certainly a start to help people get on the right track.”

Types of assistance that will be available are low-interest loan packages for the repair or replacement of damaged property, temporary housing assistance and grants for transportation, medical and dental, assistance to cover moving and storage expenses, help for people who became unemployed as a result of the storm, access to forms and services pertaining to motor vehicle issues, and more.

FEMA strongly urges anyone seeking assistance to register in advance through FEMA. Required information when applying includes the address of the damaged property, names of those living in the household, a general description of the damage, the Social Security number of any family member living in the home, the extent of insurance coverage and other information needed to expedite the process.

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Thailand's flood death toll passes 240

The Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has announced that at least 244 people have been killed in floods in Thailand since mid-July.

"The full extent of damage has yet to occur," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, meanwhile, said in a statement on Thursday.

The floods have affected nearly two million people. The worst-hit regions are in the northern, northeastern, and central parts of the country, where many of the highways remain water-logged.

Also on Thursday, hundreds of prisoners were evacuated from a prison in the Ayutthaya town, about 105 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital, Bangkok, Reuters reported.

Somsak Rangsiyopas, Deputy Director-General of the country's Correction Department, said water nearly two meters (six feet) high had inundated the prison and the area around it.

"We had to the use rope to get people out of the prison due to the strong current," he said, adding that the prisoners were being transferred to nearby jails.

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Nerriga Pub Run - Sunday 16th October 2011