Advertisement Daughters of CharityICN Would you like to advertise on ICN? Click to learn more.

Missionary reports on Thai floods: 'challenge turning into a nightmare'


Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre

Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre

Fr David Townsend SJ, a British Jesuit at the Seven Fountains Spirituality Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Fr David, who will be 70 in next February, has spent almost 20 years in Asia and in September 2012 will celebrate his Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit. He sends this report on the current situation.

Here in Chiang Mai we have been blessed with an effective local authority which, since bad floods some four years ago has been improving the infrastructure - widening and dredging the river, clearing drains and canals, etc. So in this year of unprecedented rainfall - we had heavy and prolonged rain even in the dry season - Chiang Mai city centre flooded only once and for only two to three days, about a month ago. There were some deaths from flash floods in the mountains. Seven Fountains is not affected, although the compound was sodden, since we are far from the river and on a slope.

Since I returned from a Jesuit Gathering and my own retreat nearly two weeks ago, Chiang Mai has been dry with bright sunny days and cool nights - here we have entered early into the dry season - but in Bangkok heavy thunder storms still rage.

Unfortunately the authorities downstream from us in the plains of the Central Provinces and Bangkok itself appear to have been less than diligent in their preparation despite months of warning from the northern downfalls. And so they have been submerged for some two months when the northern run-off reached them during their own monsoon rains, and compounded by the reservoirs at the same needing to reduce pressure by releasing water! Plus the fact that the dykes and drainage waterways have not been maintained to a satisfactory degree. Even now in Bangkok they are just realising that some canals are so choked with vegetation that water flow is greatly restricted!

So a daunting challenge has been turned into a nightmare for so many who have lost homes, crops, livestock and livelihoods, made worse by lack of preparedness, and lack of co-operation and co-ordination. One Jesuit compound close to the now flooded Don Muang airport is waist-deep in water, but almost all the buildings in the compound are built on high stilts (the traditional building to deal with flooding of the delta).

This is an area the flood waters breached very early on. The compound in the centre of Bangkok remains dry at the moment but they are sandbagged in and think that they may have half a metre of water, which should not enter the chapel or other buildings. Our other compound is two hours out of Bangkok and may be okay since it is purposely built on a mound raising it somewhat above general ground level.

You can get some idea of the extent of this disaster from: www.everytrail.com/fullscreen.php?trip_id=1326109

Please pray for those affected by the floods and for our work in sharing the love of God among people here in Asia.



Adverts

Congregation of Jesus

We offer publicity space for Catholic groups/organisations. See our advertising page if you would like more information.

We Need Your Support

ICN aims to provide speedy and accurate news coverage of all subjects of interest to Catholics and the wider Christian community. As our audience increases - so do our costs. We need your help to continue this work.

You can support our journalism by advertising with us or donating to ICN.

Mobile Menu Toggle Icon