Too early for talk about committees, says Abhisit

The government must review its flood management efforts and focus more on coping with floods, Democrat Party and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said.

At a debate on the flood crisis in parliament yesterday, Mr Abhisit said he agreed with the government's move to set up a committee to rehabilitate and rebuild the country and a committee to draw up strategies for water resource and flood management.

However, Mr Abhisit said the government should not put too much emphasis on "dreaming about the future".

The task at hand is to resolve the flood woes and the government must focus on it, he said.

The government must review its flood management efforts which had failed to prevent some provinces from being hit. It must also rethink its plans to manage water in dams, he said.

Mr Abhisit went on to criticise the government for its handling of water drainage and its communication failures with the public, which hurt its credibility. 

He stressed the importance of managing donated items and relief bags in a transparent manner. Prime Minister Yingluck must ensure politics does not interfere with flood relief.

In reply, Ms Yingluck said authorities involved in flood relief were not entirely to blame. She said the flood crisis was unprecedented and manpower limited.

By the time the government took office, dams were almost full because several storms lashed the country back to back, making drainage difficult.