Airport head defends staff Cars moved to make way for flood relief

The director of Don Mueang Airport yesterday defended his staff who moved cars from the second floor of the airport's parking garage to the ground level, only to see them flooded.

This is what happened to the cars that were moved.

Don Mueang Airport director Kanpat Mangkhalasiri was responding to complaints through the media that people's vehicles had been left in floodwater in the airport compound although they had originally been parked properly on the second floor of the car park building at Terminal 2 to avoid floodwater.

Capt Kanpat said between 30 and 50 vehicles had been towed away because they were blocking and preventing flood relief logistics efforts.

The vehicles were moved to the ground floor before floodwater started washing into the Don Mueang Airport compound.

"No one has complained directly to AoT [Airports of Thailand Plc]," he said. "Motorists parked their vehicles at Don Mueang Airport and more than 100 vehicles were flooded. They understand the situation and have accepted it."

Transport Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat said yesterday the AoT would investigate the complaint.

He did not say whether the AoT should be responsible for the flood-damaged vehicles.

A total of 166 vehicles were still on the ground floor at Don Mueang airport yesterday and they are in the process of being salvaged.

Deputy police chief Pongsapat Pongcharoen took a team of mechanics and insurance company staff to salvage the vehicles.

He said vehicles with first-class auto insurance would be towed and repaired for free and vehicles with less insurance coverage or without would be towed to garages for free.

The vehicles towed down from the car park building would get the same treatment, Pol Gen Pongsapat said.

Police will also wash the vehicles that were flooded in the airport for free, he said.

Panthep Chaiparinya from the General Insurance Association said most vehicles on the ground at the airport were inundated and repairing them would take more than a month.

Panumas Saksongmuang said he had left his car at the airport on Oct 20 in the belief that it would be safe from floods because the government's Flood Relief Operations Command was located there. Then he and his family went to Lamphun.

On Oct 30 he was shocked when the government ordered the car owners to move vehicles from the airport.

Mr Panumas said travel difficulties prevented him from retrieving his car from the airport. He said he would have to gradually buy used parts to repair his car because he could not afford an immediate full repair.

He asked the government to arrange for cheap parts and garages with reasonable prices for flood-affected motorists.

Drying out

Receding floodwater have cleared areas around the hangar at Don Mueang airport. Salvaging the airport is expected to be an arduous task involving large mobilization of manpower and budget.

The water levels in areas surrounding the old airport are slowly returning to normal.

The vehicles towed down from the car park building would get the same treatment, Pol Gen Pongsapat said.

Police will also wash the vehicles that were flooded in the airport for free, he said.

Panthep Chaiparinya from the General Insurance Association said most vehicles on the ground at the airport were inundated and repairing them would take more than a month.

Panumas Saksongmuang said he had left his car at the airport on Oct 20 in the belief that it would be safe from floods because the government's Flood Relief Operations Command was located there. Then he and his family went to Lamphun.

On Oct 30 he was shocked when the government ordered the car owners to move vehicles from the airport.

Mr Panumas said travel difficulties prevented him from retrieving his car from the airport. He said he would have to gradually buy used parts to repair his car because he could not afford an immediate full repair.

He asked the government to arrange for cheap parts and garages with reasonable prices for flood-affected motorists.

Back to Work, Hi-Tech partially reopens early Massive utility hike to pay for new dyke

Flood-ravaged Hi-Tech Industrial Park resumed operations yesterday, 15 days ahead of target, while 30 factories there have already laid off over 8,700 staff.

Cleaners report for duty at Canon Hitech factory. 

Thavich Taychanavakul, Hi-Tech's managing director, said the 20-year-old estate projected it would reopen on Dec 15 after it was hit by floods on Oct 13.

About 10 of 140 factories in the estate are ready to restart production, including Aapico Hitech and Canon Hitech.

Hi-Tech is the third estate in Ayutthaya to resume operations after Factoryland and Bangpa-in Industrial Estate.

Five estates in the province are inundated: Hi-Tech, Factoryland, Bangpa-in, Rojana, and Saha Rattana Nakorn.

There are 60,000 workers employed at Hi-Tech with direct investment of 60 billion baht.

Wannarat Srisuksai, Ayutthaya's Labour Protection and Welfare official, said the number of factories cutting headcounts has more than doubled from 12 last month to 30.

There are 5,364 factories in Ayutthaya employing 380,000 people.

Monta Pranootnarapal, the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand's governor, said floodwater would start to be pumped out of Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate on Dec 3 and take two days to finish.

All five submerged estates in Ayutthaya should reopen in January.

The other two flooded estates were in Pathum Thani: Nava Nakorn and Bangkadi.

Mr Thavich said roughly 100 million baht is required to restore utilities at Hi-Tech, with 330 million slated for building 11 kilometres of a new dyke around the estate with a height of 5.40 metres. The existing dyke is 4.20 metres high, but the flood reached 4.9 metres above sea level at its peak.

He said the company plans to increase the central utility fee by 1,200-1,500 baht per rai per month on top of 900-1,000 baht per rai at present. The hike is aimed at mobilising money to repay loans for building the dyke.

The increased fee, which is subject to approval from IEAT, will be applied for 15 years, he said.

Ms Monta agreed the fee was needed to build new infrastructure.

Mr Thavich said 3% of the existing 140 companies are expected to relocate from Hi-Tech partly to leverage risks.

"Some companies heavily relied on manufacturing in Thailand. Now they are looking at other locations to minimise risks of a disruption in the future," he said.

Pumps shifted to priority areas BMA targets districts that can be sealed off

Large pumps are being redeployed in areas which remain flooded as many parts of Bangkok start to recover from the disaster.

Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said yesterday pumps were mobilised from the government and the private sector to drain floodwater from flooded communities.

The drainage started in communities which could be sealed off and water was being pumped out into nearby canals.

The operation was launched yesterday in Kosumniwet housing estate in Don Muang district, Chaeng Watthana 14 Road and Khehachumchon Thung Song Hong community in Laksi district, and Ram Intra 1-39 roads in Bang Khen district.

Floods there should disappear between Dec 5 and 14.

Similar operations in other heavily flooded areas will be launched when water levels in nearby canals drop.

MR Sukhumbhand said water could not be pumped out of Sethakit housing estate in Bang Kae district because the level of Khlong Thawi Watthana canal remained high and the housing estate was too large to be sealed off.

However, he assured all areas of Bangkok would be dry by Dec 31 as tides from the sea were not so high and the levels of canals in the capital were declining.

He said sluice gates in Bangkok would be gradually opened to release floodwater from nearby provinces in order to drain floodwater in Bangkok at the same time.

Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi who is assistant director of the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc) said yesterday the government was removing big sandbags in northern Bangkok to accelerate flood drainage.

He expects the task to be finished within two weeks.

Meanwhile, a group of Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka residents, led by Sa-ngiam Samranrat, raised the Khlong Lam Mor Taek sluice gate to 2m from 50cm yesterday, a source said.

Pol Maj Sa-ngiam is a red shirt leader and a political office holder at the Prime Minister's Office.

The residents reportedly said they would lower the sluice gate if Bangkok's Sai Mai district and Sukhaphiban Road 5 were affected by floodwater.

The source said the city administration later lowered the Khlong Lam Mok Taek sluice gate back to 50cm.

Also yesterday, about 200 people blocked Phahon Yothin 48 Road where they live in Bang Khen district to put pressure on the BMA and the Froc to speed up drainage of floodwater which has submerged their areas for a month.

The road closure caused heavy traffic, prompting traffic police to be sent to direct traffic in the area.

The furious residents agreed to disperse at 5.30pm following negotiations with Anond Snidvongs, the Froc's water management adviser, who promised to work with the BMA to open the Khlong Lat Phrao sluice gate wider.

In Laksi district, angry residents of Chaeng Wattana 14 Road yesterday agreed to end their protest after floodwaters on their road finally receded.

The Administrative Court yesterday ordered the Froc and the BMA to set guidelines regarding the opening of Khong Maha Sawat sluice gate.

The court also rejected a request asking it to suspend the government operation to salvage Highway 340 (Bang Bua Thong-Suphan Buri) and Kanchanaphisek Road.

The salvage operation of the highway has already been completed.

Earlier, Todsiri Poolnual, a representative of flood-hit residents in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong district, asked the court to stop the BMA from managing the sluice gate that affects the water levels between Bangkok and Nonthaburi.

She also sought a court order to suspend the salvage operation of Highway 340.

Mr Anond insisted the Froc would not shut down and transfer its duties to the Strategic Committee for Water Resources Management or the Strategic Committee for Reconstruction and Future Development.

Obama offers Burma 'new phase' in relations

US President Barack Obama offered Burma a new era in relations if it reforms, and promised democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi his eternal support in letters hand-delivered by his top diplomat Thursday.

The high-stakes personal intervention in a country long regarded by the West as a pariah state came during a historic visit by Hillary Clinton, the first US secretary of state to set foot in the isolated nation in 50 years.

In a message to President Thein Sein, Obama offered a "new phase" in relations and requested "tangible outcomes" from a political reform effort which Washington has decided to test before deciding its next steps on Burma.

"These are incremental steps and we are prepared to go further if reforms maintain momentum. In that spirit, we are discussing what it will take to upgrade diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors," Clinton told reporters.

The United States has been represented by a lower-ranking diplomat, a charge d'affaires, as a protest since Burmese military rulers refused to accept the results of 1990 elections swept by Suu Kyi's forces.

The opposition leader holds sway in Washington -- where Burmese exile groups keep up a vocal lobbying campaign against the military-backed government -- and any easing of US sanctions on Burma would almost certainly need her approval.

In an indication of the high esteem in which Suu Kyi is held in Washington, Clinton was due to meet twice with the democracy champion -- first for dinner Thursday and then for more formal talks on Friday morning.

In his letter to Suu Kyi, Obama signalled there would be no daylight between Washington and her interpretation of political events in Burma.

"We stand by you, now and always," Obama wrote, telling his fellow Nobel laureate that he had long admired her "brave and unwavering struggle for democracy".

The country has surprised observers with a series of reformist moves in the past year including releasing Suu Kyi, holding dialogue with the opposition and freeing some political prisoners.

It also has continued to make war on ethnic border groups, keep some political prisoners locked up, and acquiesce in the region's biggest drug trade.

Obama told Thein Sein, a former general, that Washington wanted to "explore how the United States can support and advance your efforts to transition to democracy and promote protection of human rights".

US officials said the message, released by Clinton's aides, aimed to signal that Obama was ready to invest personal prestige in engaging Burma.

The letter did not mention the words "Myanmar" or "Burma".

The former military junta tried to rename the country "Myanmar" in 1989, reverting to a historical name. The United States is among those who still spell the country's name as "Burma", a rebuke to the military dictators for failing to ask the country its opinion of a name change.

In her landmark talks, Clinton won promises of further reforms from Thein Sein and offered cautious incentives to encourage new action, saying more needed to be done before US sanctions could be lifted.

"Any steps that the government takes will be carefully considered and ... will be matched because we want to see political and economic reform take hold," she told reporters in the isolated showcase capital, Naypyidaw.

Thein Sein, who took charge in March after Burma nominally ended decades of military rule, himself hailed a "new chapter in relations" as he met Clinton at his imposing palace decked out with chandeliers and gold-leaf chairs.

Clinton said the United States would open talks with Burma to start joint searches for the remains of troops killed in World War Two, when the strategically placed country was a major battleground.

She also invited Burma to become an observer to the Lower Mekong Initiative, a US programme that offers cooperation on health and the environment in Southeast Asian nations, and voiced support for IMF missions to the country.

Suu Kyi's opposition, which boycotted last year's poll, plans to contest by-elections next year that will be a major test of the new political climate.

Obama announced he would send Clinton to test reform efforts in Burma two weeks ago during an Asia-Pacific tour, in the most significant US gesture towards the country in many years.

The top US diplomat urged Burma to free all political prisoners, estimated by activists to number between 500 and more than 1,600, and pressed the government to end long-running ethnic conflicts.

Floodwaters Slowly Recede from Bangkok

This photo shows how much the Bangkok floodwaters had receded. 

By late November 2011, floods were receding around Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, but only slowly. These images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite compare conditions around the city on November 28, 2011 (top), and November 1, 2011 (right).

These images use a combination of visible and infrared light to better distinguish between water and land. Water is navy blue. Vegetation is bright green. Bare ground and urban areas are earth-toned. Clouds are pale blue-green.

This image shows the

 Bangkok

 flooding in early

 November.

Both images show significant flooding, but flood waters have receded over the course of the month. Lower water levels are especially apparent east of the city.

Although flood conditions had improved in some areas by late November, many residents of Bangkok suburbs continued to cope with standing water, according to news reports. 

As flood waters retreated from some areas, Bangkok-area residents discovered unwelcome squatters: crocodiles and poisonous snakes, USA Today reported.

Bangkok floods raise demand for disaster recovery sites

It's been close to two months since Bangkok, Thailand's capital city, has been fighting against Chao Phraya river's raging flood waters and hoping for human survival.

Flood waters in city's central parts have left several hundreds dead and rendered thousands homeless.

That has come as a wake up call for business and commercial establishments which are in search of disaster recovery (DR) sites to support their trade activities and customer needs.

Giving an account of the situation and business impact, Passakorn Kongsyok, United Information Highway Co., Ltd.(UIH)'s Department Director of International Business said, “In last two weeks seven industrial parks have been affected by floods. 

As we speak, two out of seven parks have fully recovered but the remaining will take nearly two-three weeks. Customers will be able to start their businesses by mid January.”

UIH is one of the three private telecommunication service providers of Thailand and it has two DR sites – one in Bangkok and second outside the city.

“Due to floods, many customers are demanding DR sites outside the city. They demand services like co-location or relocation, SSL VPN for employees to work from home and temporary DR sites to support branch offices and provide high bandwidths for short duration,” Kongsyok told CyberMedia News over phone from Bangkok.

In terms of city's IT infrastructure and networks, the damage was just two percent but overall impact of that damage on businesses and enterprises is very huge, he estimated.

Floods have badly hit the manufacturing plants of many IT hardware and consumer device companies that operate in Thailand causing delay in production supply to international markets.

According to Kongsyok, Bangkok city is the country's biggest commercial and trade hub as most of the service providers and IT infrastructure are based here.

“However, due to these floods, large companies and organizations like banks are looking for disaster recovery sites in other parts of Thailand. Though government is trying to push IT infrastructure in Chiang Mai and Phuket city, it is yet to develop there,” he explained.

UIH has presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos. “Technically, Bangkok-based customers can be offered disaster recovery sites from the neighboring countries but it would be very expensive for customers,” Kongsyok opined.

Though the flood waters have started to recede, it is leaving the business and commercial establishments to find answer for the key question, “What will happen next year?”

“Every company is now thinking about what will happen next year and it's really hard to think,” Kongsyok noted.

Happy travellers

I had a wonderful experience travelling by bus in Penticton. I moved to Canada with my seven-year-old son last year from Bangkok, Thailand. It is totally different travelling in Penticton compared to Bangkok.

In Bangkok, I usually took the sky train or drove, but rarely took a bus because they were always crowed and it was hard to get on and off with a young child. 

When I first moved to Penticton, I did not have a driver’s licence. As a result, I had to take the bus with my son on a regular basis. 

The Penticton bus is never crowed: in fact, there are usually only a few passengers. The problem though is that the bus comes every 60 minutes in the day time and every 90 minutes at night. 

After a while, I learned the bus schedule by heart. We now know all the bus drivers and they seemed to know us as well.

One day in the winter, I took my son to a skating lesson. After finishing the class, I thought we still had enough time, so I taught him how to tie his shoes. 

However, when we stepped out of the arena, we saw the last day-bus just passed in front of us. I was shocked for a moment because the next bus was 90 minutes later. 

We could not stand at the bus stop for that long in the freezing temperature. Then I remembered that my friend’s house was just three blocks away, so I told my son to walk and wait for the next bus over there. He walked but also cried. Since then, I have never missed a bus.

Later in the spring, my son had a soccer lesson. When he finished, we had about 10 minutes before the bus came. While we were walking to the bus stop, he told me that he needed to go to the washroom. 

I said that we had no time; otherwise we were going to miss the bus. When the bus came, it was empty. My son said hello to the driver and also told him that he needed to go to the washroom. I didn’t expect any response.

However, after he drove for a while, he told us that he was going to drop my son off at a restaurant to use the washroom. 

He stopped the bus in front of the restaurant to wait for my son until he finished his business. He also called the bus driver of our transfer to wait for us. We both thanked him for his kindness.

Although we do not need to take a bus anymore because I have my driver’s licence, I miss it very much. I would like to see the bus driver again and tell him that he is the most wonderful bus driver in the world.

Travel firms restarting tours to Thailand

Nearly one month after the interruption due to the historical floods, Vietnamese travel firms have restarted the outbound tours to Thailand, because these are considered the most attractive tours in South East Asia.

Bangkok has escaped from the floods

Head of the PR Division of Vietravel Nguyen Minh Man has said that Vietravel has resumed the tours to Thailand on November 29, and that the two main destination points are Bangkok and Pattaya which have returned to the normal operation.

Vietravel proves to be the first travel firm which has restarted the tours after the floods influenced 2/3 of the Thai territory. The “Return to Thailand” campaign has been launched by Vietravel which will lasts from November 29 to December 20. 

Under the campaign, the tours to Thailand have been designed as lasting five or six days, while travelers can enjoy the tour fee discount 700,000 dong per travelers.

According to Vietravel, the travel firm’s representative office in Thailand has informed that the atmosphere in the capital city of Bangkok has returned to normal, while the Bangkok airport has become dry and it has been operating well. Supermarkets and shops have been full of goods after the floods, while a lot of shops now opened 24/24 to attract travelers.

Vietravel is now offering the tour fee of 4,990,000 dong for the five day tour to Bangkok-Pattaya and 5,290,000 dong for six day tour to the two cities. The tours depart on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

Saigontourist has also informed that it will restart the tours to Thailand by early December. The five-day tours to Bangkok-Pattaya will depart on the first, second, third, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 14th and 15th of December. 

Especially, travelers will enjoy big tour fee discounts of 1.5-2 million dong per traveler. Saigontourists now offers the tour fee of 5,590,000 dong, not including tax and airport fees.

The tours designed for the new period of traveling to Thailand have been diversified, which ca fit a wide range of travelers, from those who want to save money to those who want to high best quality services. Especially, the travel firm also has the tour with which people can associate traveling with playing golf.

Other international travel firms have also said they are planning to resume providing tours to Thai in mid December, after they can update the flight schedule of Vietnam Airlines and update information with the Thai Tourism Department, in order to minimize the risks to travelers.

When asked when the resumption time has been slated for mid December, the representatives of the firms said that the floods in Thailand have not gone down entirely, while Bangkok, which has just escaped from the floods, needs some more time to become clean again. 

Only by that time, should they begin providing tours again to ensure that the risks can be minimized, while travelers can be safe from epidemics.

However, the travel firms have admitted that they would like to restart the tours as soon as possible. The tours to Thailand are the tourism products developed by all Vietnamese travel firms, because these are the most popular tours to the destinations in Asia. 

The interruption of the tours has caused big losses to travel firms. Man has also admitted most travelers canceled the tours to Thailand in the last month after hearing about the prolonged flood. 

Meanwhile, in 2009 and 2010, travel firms once also had to stop providing tours to Thailand, but just for a short time, and travelers agreed to wait and delay their departure time.

He has also admitted that many travelers may feel worried about the situation in Thailand and may not decide to travel to Thailand these days. 

However, he keeps optimistic about the sale promotion campaigns launched by both Vietnamese and Thai travel firms. 

He thinks that the tour fee reductions would help attract more travelers, especially when the Christmas and 2012 New Year are coming.

Local hockey referee works tournament in Thailand

Steve Emery has officiated his share of prestigious hockey tournaments during his career.

But the Port Huron Township resident experienced a first last month.

Emery, 45, traveled more than 8,500 miles to join former Port Huron official Mike Lashbrook for the "Land of Smiles Classic" Oct. 26-30 in Bangkok, Thailand.

"The thing I will remember the most about the tournament was the sportsmanship of the players," said Emery, a Port Huron High graduate. "The players saluted the fans and shook hands with the referees after every game.

"That's what recreation hockey should be about."

Lashbrook and his wife, Junko, live in Bangkok. The 1993 Port Huron Northern graduate works for General Motors and has returned home each January to officiate the annual Silver Stick hockey tournament.

Emery worked 19 games in four days at the Imperial World Ice Rink in Bangkok. The Olympic-size rink is on the fifth floor of a shopping mall in downtown Bangkok.

The tournament, which featured teams from Russia, Finland, Germany and across Asia, consisted of an 18-and-under division along with two 35-and-older divisions.

"I was really surprised by the level of play," Emery said. "Many of the local players in the tournament were from the United States or Canada and moved over there for work.

"The tournament has been going 17 years, and it keeps getting bigger and better every year.

"One of the 35-and-over divisions was very competitive, and the other was more of a recreation league."

Emery, who works at Huron Inc. in Lexington, was on the ice for the championship game in both of the 35-and-older divisions.

Emery received a call from Lashbrook in September about working the tournament. A month later, he was on a flight out of Detroit.

The trip included layovers in San Francisco and Taiwan.

"It was basically a day and a half of traveling both ways," said Emery, who began his refereeing career at 18. "It was the first time I had been out of North America.

"I wasn't nervous about the trip because I've done a lot of traveling. But you're going to a foreign country, and you just never know how Americans are taken in some places.

"I'm glad I did it. It was a great experience."

Away from the rink, Emery had plenty of time for sightseeing and had a tour guide in Lashbrook.

The main concern during Emery's stay was flooding problems throughout Thailand. There was a chance the weather, which was the worst it has been in 50 years, could wipe out the tournament.

"When I went sightseeing, there was a lot of water around," Emery said. "I saw streets that were flooded and other areas that had flood damage.

"The worst of the flooding in Bangkok went on after I left."

Emery made the trip to Thailand alone, as his wife, Jill, stayed at home with their daughters, Haley, 16, and Emma, 15, a junior and sophomore, respectively, at Port Huron High.

The Code moves into new stage of development

The Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct (TheCode.org) announced it is moving into a new stage of development, thanks to the financial support of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

SECO funding for the period 2012-2014 will allow a significant organizational expansion and development of the Code organization. 

Starting immediately, the Code will initiate the process of establishment of a new headquarters office in Bangkok, Thailand, to be operationally supported by regional offices for the Americas and Europe.

This will be carried out with the organizational assistance of ECPAT International, who will initially host the Code headquarters office.

The Board of Directors also announced the recruitment of Andreas Astrup as General Manager for the Code Bangkok headquarters, who will assume the position starting December 1, 2011. 

Andreas Astrup has previous experience as Head of Planning at Amnesty International in Copenhagen and is a Danish citizen. Starting January 1, 2012, the Code NY office will become the regional office for the Americas and in 2013, the Code regional office for Europe will be established in Berlin. 

The Code trusts that this expansion will allow it to better assist the Code members in their work promoting and implementing the Code, and to support more the local code representatives in the future.

Over the last decade, the Code organization received wide international recognition as an instrument of social responsibility and child protection in tourism, being acknowledged with distinctions including: the Tourism for Tomorrow Award (2003), the Ending Human Slavery Award (2008), 

the Ethical Corporation Award (2010), the Business-Leaders Award to Fight Human Trafficking (2010), etc. 

The Code private sector membership reached over 1,000 companies in 42 countries including leading travel and tourism companies such as Accor, Kuoni, Carlson, Delta, etc., and continues growing steadily.

The Code has had the benefit of working with strategic partners UNICEF and UNWTO under the leadership of Matthias Leisinger, Chairman, and Mark Capaldi, Vice-Chairman.