Thai soldiers mobilized to assist southern flood victims

BANGKOK, January 5 (TNA) - Thai military personnel have been mobilized to assist people in southern provinces affected by inundations, flash floods and landslides, covering urgent repairs of local bridges and roads cut off by the latest natural disaster in the region. Thai Defence Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa said before flying to Laos for a two-day visit to the close neighbouring country this morning he had been reported by Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha that army troops at a disaster relief and mitigation centre of the 4th Army Area Command had been mobilized to assist the southern people in all the disaster-hit areas. General Yuthasak told journalists he had also been informed by the army chief that army personnel at disaster relief and mitigation centres of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Army Area Commands had also been ordered to be well-prepared to support the relief mission of the 4th Army Area Command. Meanwhile, Navy Chief Admiral Surasak Runroengrom told reporters before traveling to the flood-stricken Thai South to inspect relief operations that the Royal Thai Navy had also mobilized personnel to support the military relief operations, focusing on those in the southernmost Narathiwat and Pattani Provinces. The navy commander-in-chief acknowledged that a fleet of naval ships, including His Thai Majesty Ship or HTMS Chakri Naruebet and HTMS Surin, have also been deployed to immediately assist affected people and tourists, including those stranded on islands, and to support the relief operations, once ordered by the Thai government through the Ministry of Defence. (TNA)