Tears Of Indra

NEWS OCTOBER 2011

31 October 2011

We came back late from Bang Pahan on Saturday and we were not able to load the batteries of the electric motor from the zodiac. The electric motor uses much power in the heavy flood current and we are very limited in distance. Sunday morning, the place where we loaded the batteries opened late and we had no opportunity to go out in the morning to deliver packages. 

Somchai and Nung returned from Bangkok with a small 5.5 HP Honda long tail motor and with rice and other supplies which remained in Bangkok. We unloaded the supplies at the apartment and both went looking to install the motor on the zodiac.

Early afternoon we started to constitute another 30 packages with the supplies still in boxes or bags, bringing the total of packages readied at 90. Somchai and Nung asked us for doing a test drive with the new motor. We loaded ten emergency packages in the zodiac and with Anucha at the steer we left for Lak Hok as we were contacted in the morning stating that some people were without food.

We followed Khlong Rangsit and turned into the Viphavadi road direction Muang Ek. We had only to enter the road for tens of meters and the huge damage became straight visible. 

Tens of cars stood in the water, just the roof breathing; the hundreds of shops of all kind completely filled with water. If you do not see it with your own eyes, if you do not sense it, you cannot imagine the drama here. 

TV images give only a vague idea of the flood situation, but a visual, the contact with the water, the look of the flooded people, the stench of the black polluted water, all this is a thousand times stronger than this image. You have to live it to know, but you better don’t. The experience might change your life.

We passed by the flooded Makro; the water is chin deep; walking is only possible on the submerged sandbag walls. We turned into a shopping street; all the shops (and there were many believe us) flooded; plastic chairs, wood and other things floating on the water. After a couple of turns and 4 Km of boating we arrived in Lak 6. Some people were stranded on the roof, everybody in the area showed up requesting food. No help was seen here in many days. The people were starved.

The packages disappeared in a couple of seconds. We should have brought much more, but the small zodiac was at his maximum load. We said we would return tomorrow and headed back home as it was nearing dusk again. Anucha learned during the trip how to steer the long tail and got more confident; the return was in northern direction and the current was strong even for our new motor. 

Somchai and Nung were called to Bangkok with the zodiac (the zodiac belongs to Compgame) in order to evacuate some people from their flooded houses. We were back at the apartment at 1845 Hr. As the zodiac would not return the next day, we took contact with “Prung” and ordered his boat for Monday. We plan a return to Lak 6 to deliver more packages. We will also deliver packages to the people stranded in a building in construction near our place. We saw again delivery of – very well constituted - supplies by one or another organization in our area, but they only serve the registered inhabitants. Delivery of packages seems even to be politicized, as people who hang a red flag (red is the color of the ruling political party) are served very quickly. As we live in an apartment, we received no supplies since our flooding.

At 20.30 Hr we were warned by the people of Lak Hok for two large crocodiles (one between 4 and 5 meter) on our track over Muang Ek to Lak Hok. We go, where the crocodiles go … No worries, maybe we have a large leather sport bag very soon.

30 October 2011

The water level in Khlong 1 seems not to have risen, which is a good sign. The mass of water is now at level here and floats now through this area in direction of Don Mueang and Bangkok.

The stream of donations of the Group Lizzy Hua Hin “Wir Helfen Uns” continues unabated. The group donated again 30,000 Baht and 20,000 Baht on 28 October.

We have donations from which we do not know the origin. There is a Foreign Transfer Transaction (FTT) on 18 October, and two local cash deposits (NBD); on 21 October and 26 October. We still try to find the donors.

29 October 2011

Yesterday we went to Bangkok to go pick-up supplies that we ordered from Rayong via Somchai from Jayasoft Vision. In the morning, Somchai and Nung arrived with an electric motor for the boat from Bangkok. They installed the motor and made a small test drive. 

Then we went with the zodiac from the apartment towards the highway near the Khlong 1 Bridge. The trip goes partly over the Khlong Rangsit – Nakhon Nayok. Everything is water now and you can hardly see what is canal and what is road or dyke. We stepped in the jeep and hurried down to Bangkok.

We passed Don Mueang airport. Most of the runways are now flooded and some - probably immobilized airplanes - stood in the water next to the boarding piers. Buildings were surrounded by brownish liquid and thousands of cars were parked on the higher spots and parking. It was an unbelievable sight.

We continued our travel and stopped to make an update at a bank and take out some funds. After we arrived at the Jayasoft building, we found most of the supplies bought by Somchai in Rayong already neatly packed by the boys and girls of this company. These goods were mainly paid by our donors, but the people of the companies Jayasoft and Compgamer included also some donations. 

Initially we thought to load 40 packages into the jeep, but we changed our decision. This area in Bangkok was already bracing for the coming water and maybe we could not reach these goods anymore before the floods recede. We had to find transport for the other 60 packages and a number of cardboard boxes filled with eggs, oil, noodles etc. There were also bottles of drinking water.

After a few phone calls we found a driver with a light freight vehicle, which we hired in, to go with us back to Khlong 1. The vehicle arrived at 1700 Hr and half an hour later we were back on the road. The air was packed with dark clouds and looking from the elevated highway we saw heavy downpour and fantastic lightning. Zeus was riding the clouds. 

We passed the old airport but just after Zeer Rangsit, we got caught in a traffic stop. It took us more of an hour to get to the exit leading to Future Park and our sea of water. It was completely dark now. During the trip we requested the zodiac and two boats to help us shipping the load from the highway to the apartment; a trip on the water, close to one kilometer. The two boats were hired in. We managed to get near the flooded Rangsit canal with the truck and started to unload the supplies. When the three boats were close to be filled, hell broke loose. The lightening brought the pitch dark night into daylight; thunder rolled loud in all his power and buckets of water came down on us. We were tested again. 

The rain was a curtain. In a few seconds we were completely soaked to the bone, the weather gods being in heavy dispute and displaying a sound and light show equal to a theater of war.

We wanted to head off with the zodiac already, but the battery gave up. Anucha sought refuge in the water in front of a truck, Nung sat on the safety rail of the exit, making him as small as possible confronting this huge sudden storm, Somchai as always was taken the pictures; we dived into the rear of a truck to seek some protection against the downpour, everybody was shivering. 

The shower came down for about twenty minutes and then starting to withhold a bit. We jumped from the rear. Now we had to go fast. Pia and I went first in the half loaded long tail boat. I do not have the weight of a common Thai, so the metal boat hung deep in the water. The thing was rather unstable. If I moved my left arm up, water started to run in on port; lifting the right arm, water came in at starboard.

\We shifted of the highway into the canal. It was black dark, the water of the klong glittered in the shining of some lamps on the south bank. I could not make a single move or we turned over; I heard Pia behind me, making prayers to all the gods in the firmament again. Khlong 1 and Boy came back to my mind. Suddenly I saw something white popping up between my legs. At first I did not realize what it was. An animal? Something alien? Another white thing joined the first one. Suddenly I realized the cardboard packages, soaked by the downpour, gave up and the salty eggs were released; floating in the rain water which filled partly the boat.

We went under the Blue Bridge and turned right out of the canal, to the water which was once a road. Even here it is close to two meters deep. Finally we reached our apartment. We got out of the boat into the belly deep water of the apartment hall. It continued raining. The main electricity connection box of the apartment hung half in the water. It is only a matter of a few centimeters anymore. The electricity company did not show up for another day. 

We unloaded the boat and brought the supplies to the stairs twenty meters further in the small hall. It was dark as night and the stench of the foul water was hard to bear. You cannot imagine what floats on top and what touches your legs in this brackish water. The old man in the long tail, headed back to the highway. Now we had to wait the other boats. 

My phone went off. Standing completely soaked in this dark hall in the stinking water, the ringing sounded like coming from another world. I unwrapped my - in plastic packed - phone and answered the call. It was a newspaper. I would call back later. 

Nung arrived in the zodiac. He’d managed to change battery. He cut off the motor and paddled towards the apartment’s entry. We used a large tire and a metal bowl to move the supplies through the hall. The tire could be loaded with seven to eight packages and was then pushed in the front of us on the water towards the stairs about twenty meter further, where Pia was waiting to collect them. We shuttled as thus until the zodiac was unloaded. 

I still stood with my last load on the tire as I heard a noise. You won’t believe it. The old man steered his long tail boat through the entry door, into the apartment hall unto the stairs. I saw his smiling teeth blinking in the light beam of Pia’s pocket lamp and his mouth moved whispering “reao kwa” - more quick. We could not believe our eyes. This must be amazing Thailand.

We unloaded the boat as the third one showed up already in the hall. The long tail had to move out, so both boats had to back up again. The old man disappeared in the dark; we did not know his name. The third boat docked at the stairs. We unloaded in silence. 

We are the only residents of this flooded 25-apartment block. The man, who keeps the building, helped us moving the packages to the fourth floor. Food is becoming gold, so we had to take the necessary precautions that it would not disappear during the night. We closed down at 22.30 Hr. Time for a nap.

28 October 2011

The newspapers mentioned that the government is trying to delay the floodwater, so people in Bangkok have time to prepare. We evacuated nearly four weeks ago the area of Bang Pahan, as an ocean of water pounded down on us. We have been flooded twice in three weeks time. After the many weeks of flooding in Central Thailand, the ones in Bangkok who are not prepared must have been very, very lazy or misinformed such as the people of Bang Bua Thong, by a government who - sorry to say - seems not to have any clue of what is going on with this flood, despite the hundreds of flight hours spent in the air with their helicopters. A government stating that "nobody had predicted the mass of water would be this big and that it would travel so fast" should hurry itself to the optician to change the glasses. This is just ridiculous.

Yesterday afternoon just hundred meters from our location two people were electrocuted. This is the second electrocution incident in our vicinity. During three days we have been asking the electricity company, to come check the electricity connection of the apartment where we sought shelter after the flooding of our house in Bang Pahan. Day after day the company stated that they are on the way. We are still waiting. How many people more have to die? Where is the organization? Where is the technical support from non-flooded provinces? This is a country in lethargy!

On Thursday - being flooded for close to a week now - finally some people passed by with the purpose to donate emergency packages to the people still remaining at home. The sub-district, the district or the province? Nope, they were the guys from the pump stations PTT; a private initiative again.

The Group Lizzy Hua Hin “Wir Helfen Uns” donatd again 5,000 Baht and 27,000 Baht on 27 October bringing their donation amount at 255,000 Baht. It's more than amazing. We are most thankful. More donations came in, but we have no update yet. We hope to have this regularized today.

Today we try to go to Bangkok in order to pick-up the supplies bought by Somchai. We will look also into the issue to find a small 5 PK motor for the zodiac. The flood water is very high and so polluted that it starts to be too risky to tow the zodiac through the flooded streets (paddling is hardly possible as the zodiac is hard to steer and the current at the crossroads are strong). With a motorized zodiac it will be easier and quicker to shuttle supplies and reach people in peril.

27 October 2011

The water is black as ink, smells as a sewer and is topped by a rainbow of oily colors. Looking at, there is some beauty in it when the daylight glitters on the surface, but it sticks to everything; cloths, boats, walls, whatever. Sooner than later, diseases have to break out as the mass of the sometimes unidentifiable litter floating around, is enormous. There is a serious problem here.

Last Tuesday, one of the family members had a strange encounter. In the water, just outside the home he stepped on something he thought to be a large snake. Since the incident he never walks barefoot anymore. Even flooded we close everything to prevent large insects or animals to enter the house.

The account of the activity from 26 October you can find here.

Latest news is as follows:

Markus and Daeng Rellstab in Hua Hin contacted us yesterday. They managed to purchase a stock of supplies of 24,011 Baht. The goods are ready to be shipped. They were purchased partly with the donations of Markus & Daeng, Peter & Sybille Krauer from Switzerland, and a part by donations we received. We try now to get the supplies into our area.

Koen Van de Sande from Chookdee Magazine announced us a donation from the magazine. Koen is the chief redactor of the sole Thailand magazine in Belgium and The Netherlands.

The Amazing Group Lizzy Hua Hin “Wir Helfen Uns” donated again 30,000 Baht on 26 October bringing their amount at 223,000 Baht.

The people of the refugee center in Khlong 2 and Boy’s group of helpers thank all their kind-hearted sponsors. The center has now fresh supplies in order to feed the 125 adults and 20 children.

We will keep you informed. Pictures of each activity are published on the website. Due to the bad internet connection we can only upload pictures and update the on-line website between midnight and six in the morning. There might as thus be a delay. We try to do our best.

26 October 2011

The situation is simply bad, very bad. The water continues to rise, making it more and more difficult for us to reach the flooded as the water runs deep and the current is sometimes strong. 

The account of the activity from 25 October you can find here.

As we cannot help our village at the moment, we will continue, next to delivery of emergency packages in our area, to support the refugee shelter as much as possible for a while.

We received recently donations from following people and groups:

Nongyao (Jeab) Chitreechao, Jum (Lek) Chitreechao and Carlo De Paoli - from Switzerland. Jeab and Carlo have the restaurant “Ruan Siam” in Baar ZG.

The Amazing Group Lizzy Hua Hin “Wir Helfen Uns” donated again 10,000 Baht on 24 October and another 20,000 Baht on 25 October.

Jan Vranckx and Thanyarat Saenngam from Belgium, Jan being a former Para & Commando trooper at present working for the European Union. With Andre Verdoodt from Dre’s Bar in Chonburi, this is the second “Red Beret” who runs into our help.

Our apologizes if we forgot somebody to mention or to thank. We should not, but there are circumstances. We are a bit behind with the updates of the website, but we try to get it all right.

We cannot say enough “thank you” to all our donors. We are touched by the response and the trust we received from all. As a small token in return we try to give an accurate feedback of what we do. We also are battling the waters, but we try to do our best in giving all the possible support to the flooded in name of our donors.

25 October 2011

The situation gets worse. The water rose again during the night. Yesterday in the morning and afternoon many people left our area with a handbag or backpack on self-made rafts in all kind of forms. The streets are much polluted with garbage, oil and other chemicals drifting on top of the water. From time to time you see some donuts; not very nice for walking belly-deep in the sewerage. But we cannot escape as the water stands at least 90 cm in all the homes.

Yesterday we made 45 emergency packages on the outside terrace of the second floor. We used supplies still remaining from the action on 16 October and we bought some new ones in the Big C, which fortunately opened again with some basic stuff on the shelves. 

Pia was dropped with the small zodiac near Khlong Rangsit - Nakhon Nayok and then continued walking through the water at chest height towards the shopping mall (the zodiac left off because for a medical assistance). She could find some eggs, but had to swim from Future Park to the Major Complex, returning with seven packs of eggs on a foam board which she had to push in front of her during the swimming. 

From the Big C she walked back in chest deep water aided by two women and 4 boys, with at least 50 Kg of supplies; 45 packs of salt fish, 20 packs of hair noodles, 3 packs of cooking oil and other kinds of supplies. Not much choice of food, but she had to take as much as possible as there is hardly something to find. She bought two large plastic boxes (the boxes could float on the water) to store some of the goods, as it made the transport easier. Now, she is Super-Girl.

People from the local government passed by in a boat, but no help was offered. She requested an army truck to help her with the supplies for a few hundred meters; the soldiers refused. It is a very bad-bad situation here. It is everybody for him or herself. There are even small fights here and there as supplies get scarce and tempers get hot.

We added the dry fish, cooking oil and soya sauce to finalize the 45 emergency packages which we will deliver today here in Khlong 1 area.

We were contacted to go help in a refugee shelter 3 Km from here as there were staying about 200 people, including 40 children, who are for 3 days only living on rice and fish sauce. We try to organize a decent warm meal for them today. 

In Wat Saeng San, about 4 Km from our place seventy Buddhist priests are gathered but have no access to drinkable water. We will try to get there with our contact of the refugee center, who can maybe arrange some transport to go to the monastery.

Bangkok starts flooding now.

We thank all our sponsors again because without the donation of food and funds, we would no be able to help. We are as thus a team.

24 October 2011

Then the cable TV broke down just before 08.00 Hr in the morning. Now we were totally blind: very poor internet access, no television, no radio. There must be somehow a media God, because suddenly late afternoon, the cable TV came back to life and Somchai of Jayasoft even managed to get me a 100 hours Internet package. 

There are many dramatic events, due to the wrong estimation of the size of this flood by the authorities. Thammasat University in Rangsit opened a gymnasium as a temporary shelter for 3,500 people of Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-In, victim of the flooding since "the fall of Ayutthaya" on 8 October. At this moment there is a water front hundred kilometer wide from Nakhon Sawan to Bangkok over a distance, close to 300 Km in many places 2-3 meter deep. Flood prevention at Rangsit Campus failed and the university compound was flooded yesterday with a level varying from 30 cm until 2 meters of water. People are still able to stay at the center, but the electricity broke down and all supplies for the refugees were flooded. Will be harsh times for them.

We received a small zodiac for temporary use from compgamer.com. We could also buy a motor, but we could not find a shop. In the afternoon we made already use of the boat in evacuating an elderly sick and disabled woman out of her flooded house and sent her to the hospital. The rescue action was performed by our group from Jayasoft Vision Co Ltd. under the steady hand of Somchai.

Markus and Daeng Rellstab in Hua Hin made a donation in goods for “Tears of Indra”. As it is not possible to find supplies in our area, Markus and Daeng bought us the necessary supplies in Hua Hin to complete our emergency packages. There is a restriction policy on food supplies in vigor in Hua Hin and Daeng had to shuttle quite a bit between the supermarkets. We thank both for their extreme help and invested time, as without these supplies we would not be able to help people further.

An individual donation was announced by Peter and Sybille Krauer from Switzerland. I met Peter and Sybille during my Tour of Duty with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation in 1996-1997. Peter was the Chief of the Observer Group Golan supervising the Observer Groups of Damascus (Syria) and Tiberias (Israel). We thank both for their effort and trust in our activities to help the flooded and stranded people.

Andre Verdoodt from “Dre's Bar” in Chonburi contacted us and wished also to help. He announced an individual donation on the bank account for our activities. All our gratitude goes to Andre.

We do know our donors trust us in our activities. We also try to be clear. For each activity, we will publish the costs incurred for supplies and logistics on the website. Later, when having access to a scanner, all bills in our possession and referred to in the activities will be made available on line.

Today we start to constitute packages to help in the area of Khlong 1 as now after four days no help yet arrived in this area.

23 October 2011

Today, we are the sole residents in this building with 25 apartments. Everybody suddenly left when the way out of the area started to be completely blocked off by the flood, all stores closed, and food and drinks becoming unavailable. Cars disappeared out of the area and the remaining ones, changed into submarines. This area was never flooded. Nobody believed the area here ever would flood. Only few took precautions. Many where caught by surprise, did not bring their belongings in safety. Evacuating their flooded houses; inmates tried to safe a last thing; a small TV or a ventilator or a basket with cloths. It’s all just tragedy.

There is no government help here on the edge of Bangkok. There are no uniforms, no police, no army, no medical assistance; just emptiness and brownish stinking polluted water – simply ghost town.

All stores small, big or super big in our area are closed or inundated. We tried to get dry supplies from Pattaya. Friends contacted us stating the shelves there where empty. We contacted Hua Hin; here seems to be a restriction policy on food supplies in vigor. Wang Noi in Ayutthaya province, a main hub of distribution centers for major retailers such as Big C, Tesco Lotus, and 7-Eleven is flooded and hardly accessible. The distribution sector seems to be in dire straits. So are the people. We have as thus unfortunately to delay our activities.

After the waters recede, those who lost everything will need help. For this we will start the action “Restore Life”, which you will find explained on the website later. All donations not used in providing emergency packages will be transferred to this activity.

Unfortunately, due to the bad circumstances we are living in presently, we could not update the bank account since a while. There are simply no banks open and update machines were taken away or do not function any more. Nobody can access or leave our area unless by boat. The only still working banks are now south of Bangkok, as Bangkok start to be flooded.

Following donations were announced, but could not yet be updated at the bank:

An amount of 87,000 Baht from the Group Lizzy Hua Hin "Wir Helfen Uns” (total 163,000 Baht) as the group donated again on 22 October another 20,000 Baht.

Steve Buscumb in the name of Weatherford Laboratories Ltd. (Thailand), a company in the Hi-Tech Estate of Ayutthaya, largely touched by the flood waters, donated 10,000 Baht.

An individual donation by international transfer came from Rob Busser and H.J. Bijtelaar from The Netherlands. Rob Busser is the father of Harald Busser, a good friend of us who lost his life in an unfortunate accident at his home in the flooding last year.

We thank all our donors for their effort and trust in our activities to help the villagers of Khayai sub-district and vicinities. If we can help in other flooded locations, of course we do so.

22 October 2011

And suddenly we were fish. The water started to seep in yesterday morning in Khlong 1 and at noon the brownish water stood above our knees. Everywhere garbage, in all its magnificent forms, was floating on the water. Parking lots sent a film of oil, coloring round circles in the water, indicating the place where once a car had parked. The movement of people in our area stocked. Bicycles and bikes were replaced by self-made rafts, tire tubes and small boats. Human adaption to circumstances is sometimes magical. The bustling market place became one giant pool, in where gazing from our elevated floor; people looked like small islands in the sea.

During the night the water rose again and is now up to our butts. Everything is quieted and silenced. The sound of birds floats on the stench of the foul flood water. We headed up to the mini-Lotus with the boat to look for some food, as viewing the situation today, it could take looooong time .....; closed.

In Tambon Khayai the water level did not change. The main elevated track along our village leading to the Asian Highway is flooded for about a meter. Newspapers told bluntly this morning, it was a good sign if the water remained at level in Ayutthaya. After more than two weeks, being at the same level, something tells us that the excess of water from the north is still continuing to pour down across Ayutthaya province; our area and Bangkok. It is not finished yet. The mass of water is just unbelievable gigantic.

The Asian Highway itself is still largely flooded but instead from Bang Pa-In as before, now from our area at Khlong 1. We cannot go help at the moment, taken in view the road and flood situation. Constituting supplies is not possible as our ground floor was totally flooded. The dog found a place on top of the garden table and as a seal glides now to and from the table into the water.

We can only imagine the stress, the frustration, the loss and the helplessness of the people of Tambon Khayai and all others of Central Thailand in the same situation - the elderly, the sick, the pregnant, the disabled. Some are flooded now for more than two months. It is too much for a person to bear ... It is time for Bangkok to stop its selfishness.

21 October 2011

As it is difficult to us to see the names of the donors in the account, we have unknown donors. Some contacted us after our call. We want to thank Khanittha Tasana & Joe Kümin from Switzerland and Khanittha's sister, Ms Kamolthip Intamon from Buriram for their donations. We also express our thanks for the effort of Lizzy Michael and all her donors from Hua Hin, in the continue flow of funds from “Wir Helfen Uns“. 

Mr Guy Turf from Bangkok offered us a big number of polo-shirts for the people of Tambon Khayai. We will try to pick the shirts up as soon as we are able to go to Bangkok.

As it is at the moment not possible to reach Bang Pahan we went to deliver emergency packages with a boat on Thursday 20 October, south of Khlong Rangsit, as this area became flooded at par with Bang Bua Thong. 

In the afternoon we found a rice supplier and we bought 3 bags of 50 Kg. We could not stock more as family, furniture and emergency supplies were moved up to the second floor as the flood reached our house and the ground floor needed to be evacuated.  

At this moment we are for the second time victim of the flood. The whole area around Khlong 1 is inundated, including the Viphavadi-Rangsit road. Future Park, Big C, Makro and most of the shops are closed as the water level is at many places more than 50 cm.

The help to the areas north of Bangkok will now be very much reduced as the hubs where aid could be delivered from, are quickly disappearing due to the flood water reaching Bangkok.

Many of the people who helped us for the activity on 16 October are now battling the waters themselves.

Food and drink water start to be scarce all over. 

We now can only wait until the waters recede.