Support and a scolding for Yingluck on flood tour
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was both cheered and jeered by people affected by the flooding during an inspection trip to Bangkok's Don Muang district yesterday.
Yingluck spent two hours inspecting the area by boat and dropping EM (effective micro-organism) balls into the flood waters, which have become polluted. She also distributed relief supplies to flood victims.
Over 400 Burapa community residents cheered as they welcomed the prime minister, saying they would be able to survive now that she had come to visit them.
However, at the Kosum Ruamjai market, where about 500 people had converged to wait for relief supplies, many who went empty handed expressed anger. “We were told to come out for supplies, but there are not enough for everyone,’’ one man said.
At Don Muang Technical College, a designated evacuation centre which is itself flooded, 200 evacuees who had to move to live on the second floor shouted for help as Yingluck passed by. They told her they were struggling as no official had turned up to help them, and could not go anywhere because the boat trips were very costly.
Yingluck said that although she had received both public support and scolding, she would not be disheartened because she understood the public’s plight. She admitted that she was stressed sometimes, but said she would be patient.
The prime minister said she had not taken any action to prevent water from flooding her house, which is on the road running parallel to the Ram-Indra expressway. Her house is one metre higher than the road, and if the water exceeds that level her house would be flooded, she said.
Yingluck also said that according to Flood Relief Operations Centre chief Pracha Promnok, flood barriers at Klong Papa had not been damaged by people, but had simply worn away.
Up to 17 vulnerable spots along the flood barriers were detected on Wednesday night and authorities had restored them all by yesterday.
The premier said misinformation had led to the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority’s announcement yesterday that the agency would stop tap-water production if raw water resources were contaminated by flood waters. The agency urged residents not to destroy embankments put up to prevent flood waters from overflowing into the tap water resources.
Yingluck said damage to flood barriers would not affect tap-water production.
