PM joins reforestation in Thai North

CHIANG MAI, May 24 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra participated in a reforestation project in the Thai North Thursdau, aimed to relieve natural disasters. Yingluck and Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha were at the project site in Baan Nawai of the Muang Na locality in Thailand's northern Chiang Mai province's Chiang Dao district Thursday afternoon. The prime minister handed seedlings to local people to plant; while the army commander-in-chief announced that the Royal Thai Army, as the host of the reforestation project, plans to have 1,200 trees planted in a forest in Chiang Dao, the origin of the Ping River. General Prayuth said that the Royal Thai Army will also build 27 new dykes in Chiang Dao in a bid to expand the forest, and that the Royal Thai Army started its reforestation projects seven years ago, having covered a combined area of over 60,000 rai or 96 square kilometers in the country so far and helping eased impacts of natural disasters, including flash floods and landslides. The prime minister then studied forest conservation projects of other agencies and inspected Thailand's most advance landslide warning system installed in Chiang Mai, which can send messages to concerned authorities whenever the amount of rainwater exceeds 100 millimeters at a time. (TNA)