Kenney: Pinoys, Thais can swap notes on flood experiences

Unlike when Tropical Storm Ondoy inundated Manila in 2009, the United States Embassy in Bangkok remains dry and relatively unaffected amid Thailand’s worst floods in decades now ravaging an area roughly the size of Kuwait. Sought for comment by GMA News Online, US Ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney on Sunday described the floods in Thailand as “very different" from the sorts of typhoons or tropical storms she saw in the Philippines. Kenney served as US Ambassador to the Philippines from 2006 to 2010, during which she saw the US Embassy submerged in the floodwaters brought by Ondoy, which killed 400 people and left over P20 billion in damages after only a few days. “It is a slow moving crisis. Not a storm that comes and dumps rain or wind (or snow in the USA) and then leaves," the ambassador said about Thailand’s worst flooding in 50 years, caused by unusually heavy monsoon rain and overflowing bodies of water. “This one is a rolling crisis because the floods keep shifting and moving," Kenney explained in a Facebook message. “So it is initially less dramatic but it lasts for far longer. And the stress factor is huge." “When you ask someone, ‘Is your house flooded?’ the answer is always, ‘Not YET [emphasis hers].’ I have sandbags at my house and we’ve all bought rubber boots from street vendors. We all fear the worst because no one knows when or where the flood will move next," Kenney said. Exchanging learnings Nevertheless, Kenney said similarities exist between the two countries in dealing with calamities. It is, for example, “never easy to predict with certainty" when, where, and how a natural disaster will strike. She added that a number of residents initially show reluctance to evacuate “until they see how a tropical storm will affect them." “Which can mean that it is too late," Kenney said. The ambassador then suggested an exchange of learnings on flood-related experiences between the Philippines and Thailand as well as their other neighbors in Southeast Asia. “Can nations in the region work together on better weather mapping and forecasting? Thailand already has that in mind for a lesson they have learned," she said. She also cited possible lessons in communicating in times of crisis, organizing relief and rescue efforts, and rebuilding and recovering after natural disasters. “Sharing concepts, ideas among nations would be terrific. The militaries do some of that through the big exercises – Balikatan and Cobra Gold – but civilians don’t really," Kenney said. UN: Prioritize flood prevention Earlier this month, suggestions to improve disaster risk reduction came from the United Nations (UN) itself, with one of its agencies urging Asian governments to curb and prevent the floods ravaging their countries. Like the Philippines and Thailand, countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia are all suffering from floods, noted the UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction in a statement. “People shouldn’t die because of floods. We have the technology to alert communities before floods arrive. People can be evacuated in time, lives saved and livelihoods protected," said Margareta Wahlström, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for disaster risk reduction. In a report last Saturday, Reuters said Thailand’s worst floods in 50 years have killed 377 people since July, wiped out a fourth of its main rice crop, and forced up global prices of computer hard drives, among other things. Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok on Sunday said it is bracing for the possibility of authorities soon ordering evacuation from more areas in Bangkok. In an update on its website, the embassy said it has assisted at least 131 Filipinos in the wake of the flooding problem there. — KBK, GMA News