Thai medics to fly out to Nepal today
Aid, funding and forensic personnel also being arranged; coordination panel set up; 41 stranded thais due back today
THE GOVERNMENT has sent US$200,000 (Bt6.5 million) in financial aid to Nepal, while the Thai Red Cross Society sent $500,000 in the wake of the massive earthquake on Saturday that killed more than 3,700 people.
As well as the funds, Thailand is sending aid packages and medics to provide relief, medical service and post-mortem identification know-how.
Suvat Chirapant, deputy permanent secretary of the Foreign Ministry, said Thailand would provide further aid if asked by Nepal, apart from the worldwide plea it has made for specific items such as blankets, tents, medical kits and supplies, food, plus drinking water.
A government committee made up of officials from key state agencies has been set up to coordinate efforts to manage the aid being provided to Nepal along with disaster management and evacuating Thai nationals stranded in there.
Suvat said a Thai-run coordination centre had been set up in Nepal, though he did not specify the location.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said more THAI flights for the Bangkok-Kathmandu route would be arranged on demand, though regular direct flights were operating as usual.
He said some 100 Thais either lived in Nepal or were travelling around in the region, 60 of who are based in Kathmandu. Forty of them have sought shelter in the Thai embassy. The ministry is checking to see where Thai monks in Nepal on a pilgrimage are staying, as well as what condition they are in.
Sek said personnel to be dispatched to Nepal includes a team of doctors, a police post-mortem DNA verification team, rescuers, staff to hand out relief packages and a team of Air Force communication experts. The first THAI flight with doctors will depart at 10.30am today, he said.
National police chief Pol General Somyot Poompanmoung said Thai police had experience in handling disaster zones after working in Indonesia and New Zealand in the wake of similar quakes. Somyot’s assistant Pol Lt-General Chitcharoen Waeladeevong will be leading the team of police officers.
Up to 41 Thai nationals are expected to be flown back today in two groups. The first is 34 people who were in Nepal for a seminar. They are due to arrive at 3.50pm, while the rest are due at 6.15pm.
Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan said the military was ready to provide aid and personnel. A donation campaign will be held on Army-run Channel 5 today, he said.
Some 64 soldiers will leave for Nepal at 8am today and will be tasked with surveying the affected area and appraise relief needs before large-scale measures are taken, ministry spokesman Maj-General Khong-cheeb Tantrawanich said.
Damrongtham Centres across the nation are accepting donations for Nepal, Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda said yesterday. Supplies sought include packed instant food, winter clothes and money.
Dtac, meanwhile, has been providing free calls, data-roaming, SMS and MMS from Saturday to today, while AIS has halved the rate for calls to Nepal from today till May 2.
