Cold spell continues hitting Thai North and Northeast

BANGKOK, January 10 (TNA) - The winter's cold snap has continued affecting people in the Thai North and Northeast with more areas having been declared cold-stricken zones. In the lower northern Phitsanulok Province, over 3,000 households in many highlands of Nakhon Thai District have relied on bonfires and sunlight to cope with the cold spell, as provincial authorities have declared five districts near Phetchabun, Rong Kla and Salaeng Luang Mountain Ranges cold-stricken areas, including Nakhon Thai, Chattrakan, Noen Maprang, Wang Thong and Wat Bot, and are urgently procuring winter clothes for affected villagers. In Uttaradit Province, also in the Lower Thai North, local authorities are surveying areas where people lack winter clothes, as temperatures have kept falling. The provincial authorities have, however, procured 10,000 blankets for part of the affected villagers and are procuring 30,000 more blankets to meet local demand; while the number of districts having been declared cold-stricken zones has risen from two to six in the province. In the northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima Province, 31 out of the province's overall 32 districts have been declared cold-stricken areas, prompting provincial governor Chuan Sirinanporn to have ordered local administrators to offer initial help to affected villagers and to report a total demand for additional blankets to him for further procurement of the needed blankets. Meanwhile, Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) has donated 2,000 blankets to the Nakhon Ratchasima governor and launched a caravan of trucks carrying 20,150 quilts to be distributed to people in other northeastern provinces. (TNA)