Thailand "overwhelmed" by floods

Thailand's new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra acknowledged the country's flood crisis has overwhelmed her government, but said her administration is doing all it can and trying to be as clear as possible about where the flooding may strike next. Heavy monsoon rains and storms have ravaged Asia this year. The United Nations says at least 745 people have been killed since July in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines _ a quarter of them children.

“The rain is continuing. It’s still unrelenting, says The UN’s relief agency OCHA’s Kirsten Mildren “There has been a particular focus, I think, on Thailand because of the fact that the government had done everything that it possibly can to prevent the water from coming right to the centre of Bangkok but they haven’t been able to hold it off. The flood walls keep on breaking. But at the same time because they are holding the water back, they are actually causing other areas to flood outside of Bangkok and that’s also a real concern for everyone because of waterborne diseases.”

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