Cold spell hits Thai North

LAMPANG, THAILAND, December 21 (TNA) - A seasonal cold spell has stricken the Thai North, prompting the disaster prevention and mitigation office in Lampang Province to have set up an ad hoc mitigation centre to urgently assist more than 100,000 affected local villagers. Pichet Ekpan, head of the mitigation department under the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office, told journalists on Monday that in a latest move, his office has already set up the ad hoc command centre to provide timely assistance to the affected locals and to be on alert against cold-borne incidents in the province. Pichet said a latest survey on all 13 districts in Lampang found that more than 106,000 local people are in need of winter clothes, most of whom are the poor and the elderly in Muang Pan, Jae Hom and Mae Ta Districts, situated in local valleys and hardest hit by the current cold spell. Meanwhile, the provincial meteorological office reported that temperatures in Lampang's plain areas stood at 15-16 degrees Celcius on average on Monday morning, while those in hilltops plunged to as low as 3-9 degrees Celcius. Lampang's meteorological office forecast that the cold spell should continue in the coming days, with fog generally covering provincial areas in the early morning and thick fog blanketing some areas, although temperatures in the province should be slightly higher during December 23-26. (TNA)