Free Wi-Fi, food at Bangkok Evacuation Center for foreigners. So where are they?
The International Flood Evacuation Center can easily accommodate more than 50 people and extend to sleep many more.An International Flood Evacuation Center is offering free accommodation in Bangkok -- including meals, electricity and Wi-Fi -- to expats and foreign students and tourists who need emergency shelter from Thailand's toxic, disease-carrying floods.
The Evacuation Center has "four Filipinos, a Singaporean, a German and two Burmese," it proudly announced on Saturday on its new Facebook page.
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While hosting these eight foreigners, and waiting for more to appear, the recently opened center is also allowing more than 30 Thais who have lost their homes in the floods to stay in the clean, safe, multi-story building at Bangna Commercial College near Sukhumvit soi 103.
All nationalities are welcome, but the center's priority is not the countless impoverished laborers from Burma, Cambodia, Laos and elsewhere who are struggling because the floods swamped many of Bangkok's slums.
Those unfortunate people are being directed to emergency shelters elsewhere, amid concerns that they are suffering problems acquiring flood assistance, medical care and other basic human rights.
Most foreigners already have a support network
The International Flood Evacuation Center meanwhile is posting invitations via Twitter, Facebook and websites to alert other foreigners who are living or studying in Thailand, or traveling through the country, and now need help because of the floods' disruptive force.
But most foreigners who have been affected by the massive, monsoon-fed water do not appear likely to join the Thai refugees huddling in the auditorium-sized room. That may be because foreigners who have been living in Thailand for many years often have a network of Thai and international friends and relatives, and can temporarily move in with them until the floods recede.
Expatriates also usually have enough money available to stay in a relatively inexpensive hotel or guesthouse if need be, and can wait out their flood woes while in a dry zone.
Similarly, most international students and tourists also enjoy mobility but in a crunch -- such as losing their cash, air tickets or other precious items in the murky water -- they now have the International Center as a quick and easy, optional support system.
Foreigners who may be desperate to find such an emergency shelter, however, might not have yet heard about its attractive, government-financed facilities.
As a result, Thai men, women and children have been allowed to stay at the site, which can easily accommodate more than 50 people and expand to care for many more.
Everything is provided for free, including a soft mat to sleep upon, a large bell-shaped mosquito net, three meals a day, washing facilities, TV, electric fans and several computers.
"I am very happy here"
"My home in Nonthaburi was flooded with a lot of water, very quickly," says Suveena Piriyasilisil, 59, a Thai who had to abandon her meager business selling handbags at street markets after her neighborhood was inundated.
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"First, I stayed at the flood shelter at Don Muang Airport from October 21 to November 2, but there were too many people there and I wanted to move here, because this center is more convenient for me. I have been here since November 3.
"I have a pillow and blanket which I got from Don Muang and brought here, but this center has also given me lots of things, such as food, another blanket, this mosquito net and other things.
"I am very happy here. The staff here are very good and they feed me a lot," Suveena says.
Her appreciation of the center was echoed by another Thai, Ananiporn Soontarawong, 55, who arrived on November 9 with her 22-year-old son and two-year old nephew.
"I am a clerk at the Highway Department, but our home in Nonthaburi was flooded very bad,: says Ananiporn. "When we first got here, the baby was upset, but now he is happy.
"We have enough things here to help us live. I want to see what happened to our home in the flood, but the way to go there is now blocked by the water."
Her son, Teepanawin, says he had to quit his job as a hotel waiter after their home was flooded.
"Someone stole the sandbags that were protecting our street -- they were very bad people -- two days later, we had to come here to find somewhere to stay," Teepanawin says.
"Things are actually OK here. I can go online to listen to music, check Facebook, and talk to my friends. But my mother says we will probably have to stay here for one month before the floods go away."
The rules
The International Center asks that everyone who stays there to heed a restriction against alcohol and pets, so that its temporary residents enjoy peace and quiet. Smoking is allowed outside.
Free electricity is provided, so fans, rice cookers, laptops and other personal appliances can be plugged in with extension cords.
To ensure safety, evacuees are issued a photo ID card, and the center's doors are closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
But people are free to come and go as they please when the place is open.
Bangna Commercial College is in a relatively nondescript neighborhood, and the third-floor Evacuation Center is safe from floods. But the area in eastern Bangkok could eventually be hit with incoming floodwater, and the building could become a tiny island.
If that happens, whoever is sheltering at the center would be moved to a new site.
The International Flood Evacuation Center is located in the Bangna Commercial College, off Sukhumvit 103 on Udomsuk Soi 18, or a long walk south from the Udomsuk BTS station. For more information, call: +66 (0)81 913 0117. For Thai call +66 (0)2 293 0615 or +66 (0)2 361 2901/2.
