Nation Group brings relief to stranded flood victims in Phayao province

Volunteers from Nation Group, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, and provincial officers on Friday delivered survival bags to flood victims in Dok Kham Tai and Muang districts of Phayao province.

Several households in the northern province have suffered from floods due to overflows from Kwan Phayao Lake and Ing River in the past weeks.

The volunteers from the “Nation Pun Namjai” or “Kindness from Nation Group” campaign were led by Nation TV deputy editor-in-chief Wichatorn Wongphan. They were joined by Phayao MP and former Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao, deputy Agriculture Minister Akkhara Prompao, Phayao deputy governor Phuthana Chomphuming, and local politicians and officials in delivering survival bags to flood-hit villagers.

Thammanat told reporters that he had visited flood victims in Wiang Pa Pao district of Chiang Rai province earlier that morning. Several roads in the area have been cut off, so the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry had to use a helicopter to transport necessities to the affected villagers, he said.

The former minister’s group then visited flood victims in Phrao district of Chiang Mai province by helicopter to deliver foods and necessities, before arriving in Phayao.

He said that Phayao locals residing outside the flood levee of Ing River had suffered extensive damage from the floods this year, adding that his brother, Akkhara, would propose that the government increase the province’s investment budget to expand the flood levee, both in length and height, to prevent future flooding.

“The top priority now is to make sure that the affected people have enough food,” said Thammanat. “After that, the ministry’s agencies at the provincial, district and subdistrict levels will start surveying the extent of damage and provide appropriate assistance.”