Rescue volunteers from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation made their way along a muddy road Friday night to deliver food and drinking water to more than 100 H’mong students and their teachers, stranded in their hilltop school in Doi Thoed Thai in Mae Fah Luang district of Chiang Rai.
The students took temporary shelter in the school after their village was struck by a flash flood and mudslide, which blocked the only road access to the outside world. There is no electricity, running water or mobile phone signal and the students were beginning to suffer from the lack of food and water before the arrival of the volunteers, led by Bin Banluerith.
The students and teachers there were overwhelmed with joy when they received more than 200 survival kits and drinking water. The students, who are mostly from poor families, were each given 500 baht, while each teacher was given 2,000 baht, courtesy of the foundation.
One teacher is reported to have said that he had only 45 baht left in his pocket, because he had spent a portion of his salary on supporting the children. Moreover, the foundation gave 100,000 baht to the school to be used to take care of its students.
The spirit of giving was also demonstrated by some businesses and the public by extending help to flood victims in Chiang Rai province.
The Chiang Rai Grand Hotel, for example, has offered free lodging and food to rescue volunteers. One volunteer reportedly said that the hotel’s support has boosted their ambition to help the victims.
Meanwhile, in Mae Sariang and Sob Moei districts of the northernmost province of Mae Hong Son, several villages and roads are flooded by overflows from the Salween River, which demarcates the border between Thailand and Myanmar.
Troops and local officials have used boats to deliver relief supplies to flood victims. One elderly villager in Sob Moei said that the flood is the worst in about six decades.
In the north-eastern province of Nong Khai, overflows from the swollen Mekong River inundated widespread areas of Sangkhom, Si Chiang Mai, Tha Bo, Mueang, Rattana Wapi and Phone Phisai districts since yesterday, with riverside communities submerged in over a metre of water.
The water level in the river continues to rise by 2-4cm/h, as the Xayaburi dam in Laos has increased the volume of water being discharged, to ease pressure on the dam.
