Authorities of lower northern Thai areas meet to discuss flood prevention and solution

CHIANG MAI, June 22 (TNA) - Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, in his capacity as the head of the Thai government-appointed Executive Committee on Water Resources Management and Flood Control, called a meeting of governors and other authorities concerned of six lower northern Thai provinces in Chiang Mai Province on Friday to discuss prevention and solution to repeated floods in the Yom River basin. Plodprasop acknowledged that the Yom River basin has been hit by repeated floods every year because there is no large-scaled reservoir; while the existing 7.3-million-rai local forest land is unable to absorb runoffs from upstream areas. At the meeting, the minister initially instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Royal Forest Department to quickly launch reforestation on a total area of three billion cubic metres, or some 80 per cent of the total amount of surface water in Yom River basin, in order to boost water absorbance capacity in the Lower Thai North. The minister also ordered the Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to soon install an early warning system against flash floods and mudslides for people living in the vicinity of the Yom River basin, particularly those in Phrae (แพร่) and Sukhothai (สุโขทัย) Provinces. Friday's meeting also outlined short-term flood prevention plans for the Yom River basin scheduled to be complete over the next two months.(TNA)