AS DIPLOMATS and officials from 190 countries began a week-long round of UN talks on climate change in Bangkok yesterday, southern Thailand was coping with the consequences of the worst flooding for 50 years.
With the death toll now put at 40 and some 20,000 people forced to evacuate their homes, the Thai army sent in 60-seater Chinook helicopters to rescue victims of the floods, while smaller helicopters dropped food supplies to marooned villages.
Police in four southern provinces said most of the deaths were caused by landslides, which also damaged thousands of homes, roads and bridges. The affected area includes the idyllic island of Koh Samui, one of Thailand’s romantic holiday destinations.
A week of torrential rain – unusual in Thailand at this time of the year, well ahead of the monsoon season – flooded hotel lobbies and caused power failures, prompting many tourists to head for the airport, where there were long queues for flights to Bangkok.
The Thai navy evacuated some 1,200 stranded tourists from Koh Samui and the nearby holiday island of Koh Tao, using its only aircraft carrier. In the 80 districts declared as disaster areas, Thai soldiers were deployed to lead the rescue efforts.
Ferry services to and from the islands had to be suspended after waves up to four metres high were reported in the Gulf of Thailand.
Altogether, the flooding has affected more than 716,000 people, according to the country’s disaster prevention agency. Those who died were either swept away by the surging waters or buried in mudslides at a time when Thailand is usually hot but relatively dry.
Last October, extensive monsoon flooding in central Thailand resulted in an estimated 100 deaths and affected up to five million people, swamping 640,000 hectares (1.54 million acres) of farmland and causing damage valued at €238 million.
There were fears the latest floods would disrupt the country’s lucrative rubber industry. Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of rubber, and its southern region accounts for 90 per cent of the 3.2 million tonnes produced annually.
Yesterday, Greenpeace said it was time for saving the climate to be put back on the agenda after last December’s UN conference in Cancun, where governments had “scrambled to salvage international negotiations” and acknowledged the need for action.
“In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster . . . governments meeting in Bangkok have both an obligation and an opportunity to design a climate protection system which promotes clean and secure renewable energy,” said Tove Maria Ryding of Greenpeace.
Artur Runge-Metzger, the EU’s chief negotiator, conceded the Japanese crisis would have “repercussions” on the climate talks because many countries that had been considering “low carbon” nuclear energy were now rethinking their options.
In the autumn, he said the European Commission would publish a new “energy road map” that took account of what had happened in Japan, and its scenarios would include “low nuclear” options relying on an expanded role for renewable energy sources.
He conceded Cancun had dealt with the “easy things” and the “much more difficult” political decisions needed to avert dangerous climate change had become even more difficult due to the “political stand-off” in the US Congress.
