Forever flooded – how do we break the disastrous cycle?

As part of the south braces for expected seasonal floods, a vast area of the lower north, including Nakhon Sawan, Ang Thong, and Isaan, remains inundated. An editorial in this morning’s Bangkok Post asks what we can do to prevent ourselves from being washed away in the tide.

Many people have drowned over the past two months, and yesterday, an ex-member of parliament for Nakhon Sawan died after his car was swept off a road.

In many provinces, hundreds of residents are homeless. The government has assigned a large budget for relief work, but with delays affecting traumatised residents, many have to depend on their resourcefulness to survive.

Humanitarian relief can sometimes be to the detriment of water strategy. The Office of National Water Resources is little more than a lame duck, only making the problems worse. While some areas must be prioritised, authorities seem too keen to protect industrial areas and commercial zones, with economics taking precedence over humanity. There is no shortage of residents unable to cope in uninhabitable dwellings.

Without a proper strategy, every time floods hit, authorities pledge action, but what plans they make are quickly forgotten once the rains stop and the waters subside. It’s time to overhaul flood prevention for whole river basins and lay down effective water strategies that take into consideration climate change.

In humanitarian terms, each province must set up its own relief centres for people left homeless. There must also be no more shoddy work on the part of the State.

Action over inaction and giving without expecting to receive are lessons we can take to alleviate this cycle of bad weather.