Bt5 billion emergency fund sought to help flood victims in southern region

The Interior Minister is seeking an emergency budget of about five billion baht from the Cabinet today, to help flood victims in southern provinces.

Pasakorn Boonyalak, director-general of the Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, said that households which have sustained damage from flooding in all provinces will each receive a maximum of 9,000 baht in compensation.

He said that officials will assess the damage sustained and then determine the amount of compensation that each affected household will receive.

In Songkhla province, more than 230,000 households in 16 districts have been affected by flooding. Nine people are reported to have died, mainly due to drowning.

Digital Economy and Society Minister Prasert Chantararuangthong said today that Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has not yet decided when to visit flood victims in southern provinces yet, but has assigned him to go there.

He said that his responsibility is to make sure that telecommunications there are working properly, after some telco infrastructure suffered damage during the flooding.

He said that he has instructed the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and private telecom service providers, to conduct a survey of communications systems and to fix the damage.