boldfj

I can't speak to the 4 kms blast range.  However, I do know that windows were broken in Nasa Mall, which is more than 1 km away from the Dragon Park.  Also, I live in Sam Chuk, about 30 kms away from the blast site, and we plainly heard the blast sound, and it was loud enough to make us jump up and wonder what the heck that was!  So this must have been a quite powerful blast.  Very sorry for the poor victims living in the neighborhood where the blast occurred, and for those four people that passed away.

Thanks for your responses.  Unfortunately, in the past when I've asked the officials at the Ayutthaya Immigration Office if I could mail in my TM47 form and associated documents, I was advised that the new Ayutthaya Immigration Office does not YET accept mail-in forms.  So, Mario, while your suggestion makes perfect sense, I don't think it will work this time.  I may just go to the Kanchanaburi Immigration Office and plead my case for them to accept my 90-day report forms due to the current flooding situation in Ayutthaya.

I am sooooo tired of reading the same crap every day about how the government is inept and how everything their doing is wrong or they are not doing enough to make things right.  Yet nobody that criticises the government has any0suggestions of how to do things better.  It is so easy to criticise yet very difficult to make possitive suggestions of how things could be improved.  It almost makes me tired of following this forum!!!

What we are experiencing with all this flooding is a major natural disaster and it is difficult for anyone can say with 100% confidence that this will happen or that will happen.  Hence, the government is trying to tell people what to do to avoid significant problems and dangers, but is isn't easy.  There are simply too many variables to predict correctly.  I think it is better if all we farangs just shut up and let the government try to do it's best to resolve the problem.  After all, we are guests in this country!  If there are any good ideas on how to improve the situation, send those ideas to the government and see if they will accept your suggestion and try to improve the situation.  Otherwise, it does absolutely no good to continuously berate the government and talk about, in your opinions, their ineptitude.  They are trying to resolve a problem that hasn't happened in at least 50 years.  Let's not also forget that Thailand is still a third world country and is not a UK, USA, Australia or any other western European country, with experienced democratic governments and lots of talent to draw up to solve a significant problem.  So give them a break!  They are trying their best to resolve this issue as quickly as they can.  

Also, regarding comments about how Suphanburi has not suffered any flooding, at the expense of it's neighboring provinces, that is simply a statement by uninformed persons.  I drove around Suphanburi yesterday and found most of the rice farm areas completely flooded with water.  Also, many of the small towns near the Tha Chin River are totally inundated with flooding.  So for someone to claim that Suphanburi has avoided any flooding situation is simply ignorance on the part of the claimer.  What needs to be realized is that Suphanburi does not lie along the banks of the Chao Praya River.  It is these other provinces, like Nakhor Sawan, Chai Nat, Singburi, Ang Thong, Ayutthaya, etc., through which the Chao Praya River flows, that are inundated with flooding because they surround the massive overflowing river.  Suphanburi can only have flooding from the overflow of the Tha Chin River.  And currently, that river is overflowing it's banks all along its route, causing significant flooding to Suphanburi.  I would estimate that more than 70-80% of the rice farms in Suphanburi are already flooded.  What is different in Suphanburi, from other provinces which have significant flooding, is that Suphanburi has built it roads significantly higher than the land of either side of the road.  Hence, when there is flooding in the farmland, it doesn't necessarily flood the roads.  Hence the major roads though the province are still open and usable.  And perhaps we should all be thankful for that since the current only way north of Bangkok is through Nakhon Pathum and Suphanburi.  Thanks to those smart enough to build roads significantly higher than the potential flood level of the farmland adjacent to the major highways for making this possible.

thaicbr, on 2011-10-18 14:45:09, said:

Being up to the top of it's banks doesn't mean it can't drain more water.  Dredging a canal intended as a shortcut for the Tha Chin River in Nakhon Pathom will increase the volume of water allowed to flow from the river to the sea.  More water upstream can then flow at a faster flowrate without increasing the height of the river.  So this shortcut should actually help drain more water faster without causing more flooding along the Tha Chin River itself.

It is simply attrocious how all of the flood management measures are simply to protect Bangkok, while so many provinces north and northeast of Bangkok suffer greatly with flooding.  I don't understand how the fact that 24 provinces and 1.9 million people being affected by flooding, while Bangkok declares that there is no flooding in the capital city, is considered a major success by the BMA.  Sure Bangkok has no flooding!!!  All of the water that could have flooded Bangkok has flooded the homes and farm lands of the poor people living along the Chao Praya River north of Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi.  I've personally driven through Singburi, Ang Thong and Nakhon Sawan in the past few days and seen the effects of the flooding on the many homes near the river.  And this is not the first time that this has happened.  It is almost a regular event every year.  

It is about time the Thai government develops a plan to protect all of the people living along the Chao Praya  River, and rivers feeding into it (Ping, Wang, Nan, Yom, etc.) and not just protect the people living in Bangkok (and Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani provinces) along the Chao Praya River.  Until such a plan is put in place and all people are protected from flooding, there should be no claims that everything is good regarding flooding in Bangkok.  Perhaps Bangkok should sincerely thank the people in the provinces north and northeast of the city for their sacrifices and their suffering, including the 130 people who have died.  I saw the other day a rice farmer harvest his rice crop well before it was fully matured, simply to get something out of the crop rather than loose it all to the flooding.  That is quite sad!!  These, in my opinion, are the real people who have prevented Bangkok from having any problems during this current flooding situation.