‘Together – facing the Bangkok floods with Friends’

‘No power, no (milk) powder… and water, water everywhere, but not the kind to drink…’

Ann in Bangkok writes ‘Another exciting and exhausting day, out and about during this crisis. Thip and Nat came and helped pack some more basic survival bags, also my old friend, and a 4WD off road group of volunteer drivers. We packed, uploaded and departed for our mission of distributing these items to 2 communities; Bangbauthong (Nonthaburi area) and Sapansiri Community (Rangsit area). Bangbauthong was one of those hit first and worst by floodwaters – it is a hidden slum area with 200 households, people have stayed put and that includes 50 small children who desperately need drinking water, powder milk and diapers. I‘ve never been here before and couldn’t get in anyway as water levels were too high, so we delivered some items to the community leader. She’ll bring these in by boat for distribution. After that, our Peuan Peuan Team, Ajarn Ple (Sukhothaithamathirat University team) and Off-Road team went straight to Sapansiri Community, where we met the Chief District Official and his staff who got us a motor boat to bring all items to Prachathipat School, center of evacuation for people in Sapansiri Community. The water level here is high, as high as 2 meters in some areas. Before flooding, our team normally took a motor taxi to get in, and now we need a boat, and it has to be motor boat because if we had to row, we would never get there dry! The tide is very strong. It took almost 20 minutes to get to the center, and once we got there, we offloaded all items with some help of people in community. I saw many children jumping and swimming around where it was shallow. The water has turned totally green and looks filthy and unhygienic. According to the officer who is in charge of this center, there are 340 people here, including 100 children. Among those 100 children, there are 46 small children. No electricity and tap water here. Fortunately, the people here still have food as prepared food is delivered twice a day by Rangsit Municipality. But children really need their nutrition too, so milk is very much needed. Diapers are also needed. And last but not least, drinking water for all the evacuees. In this crisis, many foodstuffs and other things are simply not in the shops, I found many empty shelves when looking for water, instant noodles, etc. Even if you have money, you can’t get it as they are out of stock. You can sometimes get support from your partners and your networks. So from us, grateful thanks to MoSDHS, UNICEF, Sukhothaithamathirat University, Off-Road team, local authorities and some friends and families who made it possible for Peuan Peuan to deliver much needed help to Sapansiri Community, one of the many communities suffering from severe flooding. That’s all for now. Gov said these coming 3 days will be critical….we have to stay alert, I have been already many nights so another 3 nights won’t do me any harm…’