Thai Chinese Community reported on October 2, 'Senator Song Tong' reflected the voices of flood victims, urged the government to improve the early warning system, criticized government agencies for lacking a 'sense of urgency,' and only notified at 1 a.m., leaving the public unaware and flooded.

On October 1, 2026, during a session of the House of Lords, a motion requesting the House of Lords to establish a standing committee (special committee) to study sustainable water resource management was considered. Lord Song Tong stood up to debate, reflecting on lessons learned from the perspective of a disaster victim, and raised policy questions regarding the continued lack of proactivity in water resource management and the efficiency of early warning systems by government agencies during crises.

Senator Song Tong pointed out that flood issues can be managed and controlled in terms of engineering and drainage. He cited water level data from the Irrigation Department, stating that the average water level of the Chao Phraya River is about 1.2 meters, still more than 1 meter below the riverbank levee height (2.2 to 2.9 meters). However, severe waterlogging occurred in cities and communities, clearly indicating that water cannot flow into the main river, suggesting a blockage problem, or that the large drainage tunnels are not operating at full capacity.

"It is claimed that large tunnels can be used 50% to 60%, but what percentage are they actually operating at? The government allocated 100% of the budget, yet it was not fully implemented. I would like to propose installing CCTV inside the large tunnels so that the public and organizations can verify in real time whether water is actually flowing through," said Upper House member Song Tong.

Notification at 1 AM: People flooded

Song Tong, when talking about the early warning mechanisms of administrative departments, said that there is a lack of proactive situational awareness. Sending a warning via mobile phone at 1 a.m. cannot truly reduce losses, because people are asleep, and when they wake up in the morning, their property and cars have already been flooded and damaged. In fact, if the weather forecasting system can predict in advance, on-site proactive measures should be used, such as dispatching propaganda vehicles or loudspeakers into the community to wake up and inform people to evacuate and move their property in time.

Stop the scenes of rotten boxed meals lingering in the shelter center from appearing

Finally, House of Lords member Song called on the administration and policymakers, pointing out that disaster management must rely on two main pillars: (1) Common Sense, which means listening to and respecting the decisions of on-site experts and not interfering in inappropriate areas.

And (2) a sense of emergency, that is, the awareness of urgency in emergency situations, understanding the hardships of the people, and effectively prioritizing the distribution of aid, so that the system does not fail to the point where thousands of boxes of spoiled meals are left stranded and cannot reach the disaster victims.

"Those in power in all departments, especially the top leaders, must first have a sense of urgency and genuinely care about the people's suffering, rather than allowing losses to occur repeatedly and leaving the people unprepared to face disasters when they wake up," said Senator Song Tong.

(Compiled by: Jon; Proofread by: Fang; Source: Thai Chinese Community thais.com)