Drought Worsens Across Thailand

March 17, 2009
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

Four million people across 39 Thai provinces have now been hit by the severe drought, which was first announced on 2 March, according to reports from the Interior Ministry, yesterday, 16 March 2009 and the situation is likely to worsen. The severe conditions have so far affected 12,517 villages. To date, 135.49 million litres of water has been distributed to those affected, and each provincial administration has access to Bt50 million to further ease the water shortage, as necessary.Those provinces afflicted by the drought include 14 northern provinces, 18 north-eastern provinces, three central provinces, and four southern provinces, according to Anucha Mokhawes, Director-General of the Civil Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department of Interior Ministry.

In the last fortnight, since the drought disaster declaration was first announced on March 2, conditions have worsened dramatically 39 affected provinces, compared with only 25 before and 4.1 million people afflicted as opposed to the previous 2.7 million. Drought is normal during Thailand's hot season, from February to April, but this year the drought arrived ahead of time.

The last severe drought in Thailand was in 2005, the worst for seven years, when 9 million people in 71 of Thailand's 76 provinces were affected, as well as millions more people in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and parts of Southern China. The drought is likely to have a significant effect upon Thailand’s rice production, resulting in the loss of millions of baht.