Rehabilitation plans for four Thai flood-hit provinces completed

BANGKOK, November 3 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit said on Thursday that the government has completed rehabilitation plans for four flood-hit provinces, including Nakhon Sawan, Sukhothai, Pitsanulok in the Lower Thai North and Ayutthaya in the central region. Yongyuth, who is also Interior Minister, told reporters that the rehabilitation plans in the flood-receding provinces will begin with measures to address impacts from inundations, both physically and psychiatrically, for affected people; while long-term rehabilitation programs will later be implemented, also aimed to rebuild confidence in the Thai economy among international investors. According to the deputy premier, the official rehabilitation plans will be publicly announced after Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's visits to Nakhon Sawan on November 5 and to Ayutthaya one week later, during which she will also hand out the government's financial support to flood-stricken households, 5,000 baht each, excluding an official compensation of 10,000-30,000 baht each for damage caused to their houses depending on their flood-borne losses. The deputy premier acknowledged that the government will urgently build as well a permanent barrier along the Prapa Canal, which supplies raw water for Bangkok's piped water services, to prevent unclean floodwater from flowing into the canal in the future. (TNA)