Swiss experts to advise on Thai floods

Switzerland has sent a team of experts to Thailand to advise the government in the aftermath of the country’s worst flooding in decades.

Thailand’s government accepted a Swiss offer to provide four experts in water, microbiology, flood containment and coping measures. The team will advise in particular on water management, measuring water quality and evaluating the conditions of dams and embankments.

The government’s Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit has already released SFr100,000 ($113,000) for the Thai Red Cross and other emergency relief projects in Thailand and Cambodia. The funds will support the distribution of rice, canned food, water filters and medicine.

The Swiss embassy in Bangkok has remained open and continues to support the Swiss community in Thailand. The city centre is protected by a network of dikes and sandbag walls and remains mostly dry.

To the north of Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya provinces have been inundated for weeks, along with seven industrial estates.

The floods began in July, at the start of a particularly heavy rainy season, and have killed 427 people.