Death toll from Thailand's floods tops 600
Published on Nov 20, 2011
A boat passes a bus on a flooded street at Bangkok Yai district in Bangkok on Nov 17. The death toll from Thailand's worst
flooding in more than half a century has passed 600. -- PHOTO: AP
BANGKOK (AP) - The death toll from Thailand's worst flooding in more than half a century has passed
600.
The floods began in late July, fed by heavy monsoon rains and a series of tropical storms. The flood waters
swamped entire towns as they moved south through the country's central heartland to Bangkok and the
Gulf of Thailand. More than two-thirds of the country's 77 provinces have been affected.
The government said on Sunday that the death toll has reached 602, the majority from drowning. It said the
number of affected provinces is currently 17.
The situation has improved dramatically in recent days and cleanup has begun in many areas, though some
still face weeks more under water.
Malaysia issues landslide alert amid heavy
rains
Published on Nov 20, 2011
A wooden house in Sabah escapes being flattened by a landslide in this Dec 11, 2010 file photo. A full alert has been put out
for more landslides with the rain continuing to pound away with greater intensity. -- PHOTO: THE STAR
KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A full alert has been put out for more
landslides with the rain continuing to pound away with greater intensity.
Experts are already expecting the number of landslides this year to exceed 100, which is the average figure
to hit the country yearly. With heavier rainfall expected right through to January, the people are being
forewarned and told to prepare for the worst.
The Works Ministry, on its part, is conducting a public awareness campaign to highlight the danger signs.
This includes carrying out 'full alert' advertisements in the major newspapers.
Minister Datuk Seri Shaziman Abu Mansor said the objective was to 'avoid what can be avoided.' 'We are
expecting more landslides with more rain but we must prevent more casualties. We need to be alert and
look out for the warning signs and symptoms,'' he told The Star.
Fears for ancient Thai temples as floods
recede
Published on Nov 20, 2011
AYUTTHAYA, Thailand (AFP) - The ruined temples of Ayutthaya have survived centuries of tropical
heat and rain, but experts fear some have been weakened by Thailand's devastating floods and may be at
risk of collapse.
Unusually heavy monsoon rains caused a deluge that swept across much of central and northern Thailand
from July, leaving more than 600 people dead and damaging millions of homes and livelihoods.
Ayutthaya, around 80km north of Bangkok, was in one of the worst-hit parts of the country and dramatic
aerial images last month showed its temples as islands in a vast lake of floodwater.
The structures spent weeks swamped by the murky waters and now fresh cracks have appeared in some of
the pagodas that dominate the historic capital, a major tourist attraction and Unesco World Heritage site.
As the waters retreat, visitors have been warned not to climb onto the structures in case they collapse.
Chaiyanand Busayarat, director of Ayutthaya Historical Park, estimated at least 650 million baht (S$27.2
million) worth of damage had been done, but said the full consequences of the floods were not yet known.
'The monuments' construction was not designed to carry this much weight (of water). The floods have also
softened the ground, making it unstable. Buildings could sink or, in the worst case, they might collapse,' he
told AFP.
The waters have receded from much of the centre of the city, although some of the many temple
compounds dotted around the historical park site are yet to fully dry out.
Erected at the confluence of the Chao Phraya, Pa Sak and Lopburi Rivers, the Ayutthaya monuments have
long been susceptible to seasonal flooding.
The old city used to be protected by a network of canals that drained the water away, said a heritage expert
for the United Nations cultural body Unesco, who asked not to be named.
'A lot of those canals have been filled over or have naturally become more shallow over time,' she told
AFP.
'There is some fear that there might have been some settling of the foundations of the monuments which
could lead to monuments becoming unstable,' she added, following a Unesco visit to the area on Thursday.
She said it was still unclear how much damage had been caused by the weeks of flooding.
'It is hard to tell at this time whether that's more than the monuments can withstand or if it is in the range
that is tolerable for them.' Ayutthaya, founded around 1350, was one of the capitals of the old kingdom of
Siam and at its peak had three palaces and more than 400 temples.
After four centuries as the country's capital, the city fell to Burmese invaders in 1767 and most of it was
destroyed.
Many of the remaining ruins have been painstakingly restored.
At the Wat Phra Ram temple site, Chaiyanand indicated a vertical crack in one of the brick structures
around two metres long.
'I think this happened during the flood but I have to say that small pagodas like this are not that scary. The
big ones one which weigh many tons are the more concern, and much more scary for me,' he said.
Of more immediate concern to many in the city is the need to fully reopen to tourists.
Receding waters have left large quantities of detritus - everything from plastic bags to shoes to tree
branches - strewn across the monument grounds.
Suneewan Pudson, 65, one of a band of cleaners busily sweeping an area around the reclining Buddha at
Wat Lokayasutharam temple, said she and her colleagues were determined to help return the site to its
former glory.
The task is a daunting one. Some local people sought refuge around the monument during the floods,
leaving piles of rubbish and even an abandoned and rusting three-wheeled tuk tuk taxi.
'I am sad because this is an ancient site which is a tourist spot so we are supposed to protect it. But we did
not know that the flood would be this high.
It has never been like this before,' Ms Suneewan told AFP.
5.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off east
coast of Japan
Published on Nov 20, 2011
HONG KONG (AFP) - An earthquake measuring 5.1 in magnitude struck near the east coast of Japan on
Sunday, the US Geological Survey reported.
The quake, which had a depth of six kilometres, hit close to the coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island, at
4.27am (1927 GMT, 3.26am) around 91km from Tokyo.
No tsunami alert was issued.
On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake caused a devastating tsunami which left about 22,000 people
dead or missing and triggered an atomic crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the north-east of
the country.