Floodwaters flow into Bangkok's tourist areas

COCHRANE: Where I am this morning there's no sign of water but there is a lot of activity, a lot of signs of people getting ready for the water to arrive. So the sandbagging that's been done over the past few weeks that perhaps has sort of been done on a fairly ad hoc basis, is really now being done with a lot of energy. People are moving belongings up to second floors, you notice a lot of cars that are normally on the streets that aren't around, people are trying to find car parks and places to store their vehicles. And there's less roadside trade as well, people are expecting the waters to begin to arrive if not today then certainly over the weekend.

LAM: And as you say the local residents are trying to cope as best as they can. What about the foreign visitors? Are there still many left in Bangkok as far as you know?

COCHRANE: It's hard to say and again only on media reports hotels are reporting a lot of cancellations, a lot of drops in bookings, a lot of cancellations as I said in bookings, and I know the airport's very busy on the way out. A lot of people, Thais and expatriates are relocating family to other parts of the country, to islands in the south or even to other countries in Southeast Asia. So I'm not quite sure, but I think it is beginning to have a real impact on tourism, certainly here in Bangkok.

LAM: And Matt we've also had reports of crocodiles and snakes roaming the floodwaters. Quite how dangerous are these animals, is that quite prevalent or only in certain parts?

COCHRANE: Only in certain parts, sort of north of Bangkok there's been reports of crocodiles from a farm in Ayutthaya that was flooded a couple of weeks ago.

LAM: From a farm?

COCHRANE: Quite remarkable photos of large crocodiles walking up to people. Of course that's always dangerous. These are just the hazards that unfortunately come with flooding in Thailand and across the region, and we know as well from experience that floods in urban centres and cities have a different risk profile, have different challenges than floods in rural areas.

LAM: So as far as you're concerned what is the biggest concern for the Red Cross now?

COCHRANE: Well for the Red Cross operationally our focus is very much outside Bangkok, the response in the cities is being managed by the city itself. So our role there is very much to support the authorities and to man some of the evacuation centres and make sure that there's clean water and basic supplies for people who are forced from their homes. And it's understandable that Bangkok is such a major focus, but there remains huge concerns for communities outside of the city, and across the region as well. Though perhaps there's not much attention, and there's certainly not as much support available in the south of Vietnam for example or in the centre of Cambodia.

LAM: Indeed speaking of the region, what news have you from your colleagues in Cambodia and Vietnam?

COCHRANE: Cambodia the situation seems to be steadily worsening. A colleague of mine who's just back from an assessment mission in one of the affected provinces, Kampong Thom, which is in the centre, reports that some of the evacuation centres that had been setup a few weeks ago have themselves had to be evacuated because of rising water. So the water continues to climb beyond that the local communities and authorities expected it to climb. And we're looking there, the Cambodian Red Cross is quite clearly saying that they expect to be running recovery operations that will start in November into the first quarter of 2012. So we're beginning to get an idea of how long the response and recovery needs of these communities is going to be in Cambodia and Laos and in Vietnam. We're looking really until as I said the first quarter of next year, perhaps for a lot of communities until at least halfway through next year.

Source - radioaustralia.net.au