Monsoon storms have triggered flash floods and landslides in 20 provinces, affecting a total of 15,740 households, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said on Thursday.
The storms left a trail of destruction across Ratchasima, Sisaket, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Rayong, Kanchanaburi, Chainat, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani, Phang Nga, Krabi, Phuket, Trang, Satun and Songkhla.
Flooding has hit six provinces – Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, Surat Thani, Trang and Satun – where local officials are scrambling to help victims.
An announcement published in the Government Gazette on Thursday said the state of emergency was invoked under Article 11 of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situations.
Using the authority granted to him under Article 11, the premier has issued the following measures:
• Power to detain any person suspected of cooperating in an action that leads to an emergency, or any advertiser or sponsor of such actions or the concealing of information about actions that cause an emergency situation.
• Power to issue an order calling any person to report to the authorities, provide a statement or deliver any documents or evidence related to an emergency situation.
• Power to seize equipment or tools used in communication or transmission of electronic information, weapons, consumer goods, chemicals or objects have been used or will be used in actions promoting an emergency situation.
• Power to search, demolish or destroy buildings and obstacles as necessary in the performance of duties to halt a serious incident.
• Power to prohibit any citizen from actions that can be considered a threat to national security or the safety of people.
• Power to prevent any action that may block traffic or prevent the use of transportation in areas under emergency.
• Officials given these powers must take necessary and appropriate steps. The supervisor of relevant officials has the power to prescribe conditions or time for exercising the powers of competent officials as deemed appropriate.
Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan is calling on administrative organisations as well as military and police officers to help volunteers provide assistance to 15,740 households in 18 provinces that were affected by floods.
The deputy PM’s spokesperson Lt-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich said on Thursday that Prawit has also instructed officials in Nakhon Ratchasima and Surat Thani to open drainage channels to reduce the water levels in the area.
“In areas where flooding has reduced, Prawit has instructed officials to repair public utilities and people’s residences, launch cleaning operations and work towards alleviating farmers’ suffering,” Kongcheep said.
“Meanwhile, he has also ordered officials to cooperate with the Office of National Water Resources to reserve water in reservoirs and solve problems in flood-prone areas.”
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported that 13 new cases had been found in state quarantine over 24 hours on Thursday.
The new cases include a 33-year-old Syrian physician who travelled from Lebanon on October 9 and tested positive for Covid-19 on October 12. He had fever and had lost his sense of smell.
A 27-year-old Thai woman who had arrived from the Netherlands on October 10 tested positive three days later. She at a state quarantine facility in Chonburi.
A 31-year-old Thai woman who returned from Italy on October 10 tested positive on October 12 at the Chonburi state quarantine facility.
Three soldiers, aged 33, 46 and 53, returned from the UN mission in South Sudan on October 12 and tested positive on the same day.
A 66-year-old Ethiopian man, who arrived in Thailand for medical treatment, tested positive in hospital quarantine in Bangkok.
Meanwhile, six people from Myanmar have tested positive, including two chefs, aged 41 and 52, along with a 58-year-old male hotel employee – all Thai nationals – who arrived on October 9 and tested positive on October 13 in Chonburi quarantine facility.
Separately, two Myanmar drivers, 35 and 42, tested positive on October 9, while a 36-year-old Myanmar student was found positive at the border screening checkpoint. All three were returned to their country and are undergoing treatment at Myawaddy Hospital.
Separately, six Covid-19 patients have recovered and discharged so far.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 3,665 (724 in state quarantine), of whom 143 are in hospital and 3,463 have recovered and discharged. The death toll remains unchanged at 59.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am, the total number of confirmed cases had risen to 38.74 million (up by 381,466). Of them, 29.12 million have recovered, while 8.52 million are active cases (70,431 in severe condition) and 1.096 million have died (up by 6,083).
Thailand ranks 141 for most cases in the world, while the US tops the list with 8.15 million cases, followed by India 7.3 million, Brazil 5.14 million, Russia 1.34 million and Spain 937,311.
Tests conducted on residents in Tak’s Mae Sot district after the Myanmar drivers were found positive shows that 1,194 test results have come up negative, while 4,189 new samples have been collected and are awaiting results.
More than 200 students of Phitsanulok’s Naresuan University held a gathering on Wednesday evening to remember the people who lost their lives in the October 14, 1973 uprising as well as to show support for the pro-democracy protest in Bangkok.
Members of the NU Movement gathered in the Faculty of Law’s courtyard at 6pm to light candles in memory of student activists who had been killed by soldiers or lynched by a royalist mob in 1973.
The organisers recounted Thailand’s “Day of Great Sorrow” and told the students of the massacre.
Participants also raised the three-finger salute to express their support for the protest that was going on in Bangkok.
Another similar gathering involving Naresuan University along with students from other universities is scheduled for October 25 in the centre of Phitsanulok.
Three high-ranking police officers have been dismissed after the pro-democratic demonstrators marched to surround Government House on Wednesday.
The dismissal of Pol Maj-General Somprasong Yentuam, Pol Maj-General Prasai Jittasonthi and Pol Major Manop Sukhonthanapat was reportedly ordered by the Royal Thai Police Operations Centre on Thursday.
The centre said the order was given to Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Phukphong Phongpetra by the newly appointed National Police commander Pol General Suwat Jangyodsuk.
Protesting is a basic right of the people under a democratic system and the arrest of pro-democracy leaders is unjustified, the Free Youth said on Thursday.
After the government imposed a state of emergency in Bangkok and arrested a handful of pro-democracy leaders after an overnight protest at Government House, Free Youth said on its official Facebook page that the government was trying to diminish the democratic ideology to preserve their power.
The royal family was used to declare emergency, they claimed, and this could be interpreted as meaning that the monarchy was against democracy, they said.
The Free Youth group, a part of the new Khana Ratsadon, or People’s Party, condemned the action of the authorities and announced they would continue their protest at Ratchaprasong Intersection at 4pm on Thursday.
The group also urged people who believe in the same goal to gather in order to express their political standpoint.
Degree-level students won’t have to face graduation deadline anymore
NationalOct 15. 2020Prof Dr Kittichai Wattananikorn
By THE NATION
The Commission on Higher Education Standards has approved a motion to remove the graduation deadline for students at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels at educational institutes, which had previously stipulated that students at each level must graduate within a limited number of academic years or face being retired from the course, chairman Prof Dr Kittichai Wattananikorn said.
“The motion is in line with Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister Anek Laothamatas’ policy to promote life-long learning and adjust educational regulations to suit the modern world,” he pointed out.
“In the past, each institute used to set their own deadlines for graduation in accordance with their curriculum,” he added. “Bachelor’s-degree students usually needed to graduate within eight years or retire from the course, while master’s-degree students have usually had a deadline of five years and doctoral candidates six years,” he said.
“The removal of these deadlines will enable students to work and study simultaneously without worrying that they will be forced to quit,” Kittichai said.
“In fact, studying and working at the same time will help promote learners’ skills and experience in a real life working environment, which should benefit the students in the long run,” he added.
The baht opened at 31.17 to the US dollar on Thursday, unchanged from the previous close on Wednesday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 31.10 and 31.30 on Thursday, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, senior director of the chief investment office at SCB Securities.
On Wednesday night, the S&P 500 index decreased by 0.66 per cent after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said discussions on financial policies cannot be concluded before the election next month. At the same time, the Stoxx 600 index shrank by 0.09 per cent after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled to the EU that Britain wanted to proceed with Brexit discussions.
In financial markets, the US Ten-Year Treasury yield closed at 0.72 per cent, while the dollar weakened by 0.2 per cent compared to other main currencies. This situation led to an increase in the price of gold, to $1,900 (Bt59,134) per ounce, while the WTI crude oil price increased by 0.56 per cent.
Jitipol predicted the baht would move in a wide range as foreign investors decided to hold lower-risk assets after an increase in political instability around the world.
He said an economic recovery would be the main factor influencing the market, and the dollar would weaken in the “risk on” state of the future market. Under this assumed situation, Asian currencies, including the baht, would strengthen in the long term, Jitipol added.
Police talked a drug suspect into surrendering on Wednesday evening after he ran into a Phuket motorcycle repair shop near Banya Intersection in Srisunthorn subdistrict, Thalang district, and held a woman hostage for hours.
Police reportedly spent around four hours negotiating with the suspect, who held the shop owner, an elderly woman, at gun point in the building. The gunman eventually put down the weapon and was taken into police custody.
Officials reportedly said that earlier police had chased down a group of teenagers, who were suspects in a drug case, along Highway No 4015. One of them darted into the shop and promptly took the woman hostage.
The woman was reportedly rattled from the incident but unharmed.
File Photo 
General Prawit Wongsuwan 
Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree, middle, Jutatip Sirikhan, right. Photo Credit to Free Youth 
Prof Dr Kittichai Wattananikorn 
