Anyone noticed it's raining?

At least 342 flood-related deaths were reported in Thailand, and about one-third of the countryside remained heavily submerged, cutting off roads, destroying homes, businesses, crops and livestock, endangering vital infrastructure and leaving entire isolated villages underwater. The contaminated overflow caused untold damage to ancient heritage sites, inundated factories in low-lying areas, negatively affected vital tourism revenue and cut Thailand’s GDP projection by as much as 2 per cent.

Generous donations and contributions from Thais-helping-Thais were supplemented by 40,000 troops and thousands of kind-hearted volunteers and support groups. But the stopgap measures failed to foresee glaring problems lying ahead.

Given climate change, sinking land mass, deforestation, unregulated urban sprawl and decades of short-sighted human indifference, the logical conclusion is that we cannot escape the wrath of nature avenging longstanding abuse. Modern excessive lifestyles and the obsession with progress at any cost must adjust and adapt to rapidly changing times. The future forecast analysis raises fears of even more severe catastrophes, and that the worst is yet to come.

We must face harsh facts with common-sense determination by developing workable action plans featuring a regional framework utilising state-of-the-art approaches and streamlined procedures to deal with water management and water conservation. All must join together in a unified willingness to resolve inequities to make our endangered planet a safer and saner place to pass on to our beloved offspring.

Charles Frederickson

Bangkok