Thailand: Survival and Creativity During Floods · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The situation in Thailand is improving as floodwaters are receding but the death toll has now reached more than 600, according to Saksith Saiyasombut:
Now that the worst seems to be over and the tide are slowly, but steady receding in many parts of the country, a sense of normalcy returns to Bangkok. However, the suffering for many in the affected areas continue, there’s still conflict along the barriers and the death toll is now over 600.
Ladprao64 also observes that life is getting back to normal in many places:
Although many people are still struggling with flooded homes and workplaces on the vicinity of Bangkok, further north and some areas of the city itself, our little patch is getting back to normal. We went to Central Ladprao on Saturday – it had opened the day before – and had no real difficulty getting there. There was some water near the SCB Plaza and cars were using the two outside lanes but the inside ones would have been passable if necessary.
Apart from that, there was plenty of mud to show where the water had reached and the place is going to look rather shabby for a while.
The flood disaster in Thailand is the worst in the past five decades in terms of human casualties and damages in properties and infrastructures. But the disaster which flooded majority of the provinces for several weeks, including parts of Bangkok, also showed the inventive ways of people as they coped with the floods.
Thai Flood Hacks is a Tumblr account which gathers the interesting flood devices and approaches which were created by ordinary residents to survive the floods. For example, below is an improvised boat made of plastic tubs:
Worried about parking in flooded buildings? Below is some unique motorbike parking:
And car bags protect these vehicles:
Below is a water bottle swimming vest for cats:
This amphibious pickup truck seems ready for the flooded roads:
Universities also helped in manufacturing devices that could help save lives during the flooding. A popular example is the FloodDuck which gives a warning of electric current in the floodwater:
Clarice Africa identifies several crowdsourcing applications which provide useful information to residents. An example is the website Is my house flooded?, “where Bangkok residents who evacuated their respective homes can simply enter their postal address and find out the flood situation near their homes.”
Here’s a story of dog rescuers and volunteers as they search and help stranded dogs in the city:
We found several dogs in deserted houses & garages that were perched on floating cars. It was evident that they had not eaten in days. These dogs were terrified & our rescuers struggled to catch them with their nets & bare hands.
We also found puppies stranded on a pile of floating rubbish who were delighted to see us & promptly jumped in our boat where they enjoyed some food & affection. Their mother was in deep water nearby & although terrified, we finally managed to rescue her also.