Extreme Flooding in Thailand

Over the last two to three months Thailand has experienced unusually heavy rainfall and storms. As a result, flooding began in northern Thailand and then moved south to the central plains, with water in many places 2-3 meters deep.

This is the worst disaster ever to hit Thailand, throughout history. “It looks as if it is going to take a long time for the situation to be resolved and for the nation to return to any sense of normalcy, or recover from these floods”, said Rev. Dr. Boonratna Boayen, Moderator for the Church of Christ in Thailand.

At this time, flood waters are coming into Bangkok. The government is trying to prevent flooding in central Bangkok. So far, 1,500 volunteers have joined the operations to build sandbags dykes in the at-risk areas.

The floods have caused the deaths of 300 people. Over 2 million homes were destroyed, and over 8 million people have been directly affected.

One third of all provinces are flooded. So far six large industrial estates have been completely flooded with a huge financial loss. At least 700,000 people have lost their jobs.

The Church of Christ in Thailand has received donations from local churches and church institutions outside the “disaster area” to support the relief efforts. The CCT has itself approved 1 million baht ($32,800) for direct emergency relief efforts which includes rescue missions, delivering food and water to stranded communities and providing medical care.

”The help we have been able to give is as a drop in the ocean, as compared to the size of the disaster. It is so overwhelmingly huge” wrote Rev. Dr. Boayen in a letter to the wider community of international friends.