No. 0559 (Khánh Văn dịch)

Hospital fears sect’s flood omen

Published on October 11, 2005

A prediction that Bangkok will face inundation this week has been taken seriously by the management of a well-known city hospital, which has told its doctors and staff to get ready for possibly the worst floods in many decades. The prediction is based on warnings from Dr Kanjira Kanjanaket, president of Vitheedham-Vithee-thai Club, a Buddhist group.

The warnings have been circulating among email users for weeks.

Somehow, it has become an internal warning issued by Bang-kok’s Vichaiyut Hospital as doctors and staff were told to prepare for the possibility of Bangkok facing a huge flood today and tomorrow.

The internal warning was signed by the hospital’s president Dr Som-pone Bunyakupata.

Co-incidentally, the Royal Irri-gation Department and the Meteo-rological Department also warned of the possibility of heavy water flows from the North, high tides and the forecast of thunderstorms in the central region in the middle of this month.

“Water from the three sources could probably cause inundation as bad as in 1939 when Bangkok was submerged for three months,” the hospital’s internal memo reads.

The memo asks hospital staff to prepare for the possible disaster.

Punnee Suasajja, the supervisor of the Out Patient Division (OPD) and assistant to the president, said the message is an internal warning for doctors and staff, and was not meant to cause public panic.

“As a hospital, we have to be on alert at all times, as our patients could be affected,” she said, adding the hospital has prepared sandbags and cleared drains to prevent floodwater getting into the basement area where patients’ records and the electricity control room are located.

“We want to make sure that despite flooding, we are still able to take care of our patients as usual,” Punnee said.

According to Dr Kanjira’s prediction, this series of natural disasters - the worst in 500 years - could hit the country between October 11 and 29.

There would be a huge flood on October 11, huge waves between October 13 and 14, flash floods from forests on October 18, an earthquake around October 21-23 and a tornado on October 29.

Thiradej Tangprapruthikul, head of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Drainage and Sewerage Department, said the water level in the Chao Phya River is still not a concern because there had been no rain over the past few days.

Thiradej said the Rama VI and Chao Phya dams currently release only 1,500 cubic metres per second into the river, which could cope with up to 2,500 cubic metres per second.

Three other dams that affect the Chao Phya River have not yet released their water, he added.

“If there is no rain for the next two days, it won’t be a problem,” he said.

But if high tides in the middle and end of the month coincide with rain and heavy river flow from the North, Bangkok might be at risk of flooding.

Smith Dhammasaroj, a vice minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and in charge of the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC), said damaging earthquakes and tornadoes as predicted by the divination were difficult to believe due to Thailand’s geographic location.

Pennueng Vanijchai, associate professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, said there were two active faults in the country which could affect the Srinakarin Dam and Khao Leam Dam but little possibility of an earthquake.

Chatrarat Kaewmorakot

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2005/10/11/headlines/index.php?news=headlines_18838308.html