Residents in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai have complained to district officials over the cost of food and labour costs skyrocketing as they try to dig themselves out of sand and mud from flooding.
Workers are charging 600 -800 baht or 5,000-10,000 baht per team to remove mud and sand from people homes.
Houses with only women and elderly people who could not afford to hire people to help dig up the sand called for the government to help dig them out, which has proven difficult.
There were more than 1,000 households in the 3 communities making it impossible for them to help every household.
On some roads and alleys, there were not enough tractors to help, so villagers pooled their money to hire tractors to plow and scoop up the mud themselves. They say the owners of the tractors and charging too much money.
Many houses with women and children who could not open their front doors because the mud and sand was over 2 meters high, have no money to hire people to dig them out.
It has been impossible for them to go to the shelters to receive food as the roads were still full of mud. Residence are also complaining people pretended to be victims are going to receive 10-20 food boxes at a time. By the time it was their turn, the food was all gone.
Meanwhile, tap water could not be supplied because the water pump are full of mud, and the water pipes were broken in sections. Soldiers and villagers have worked together for many days to dig up the pipes and repair them after the water receded, but the work is still not finished.
The president of the Mae Sai Chamber of Commerce estimated the economic damage in Mae Sai District alone to be no less than 3 billion baht. If assessing the impact on border trade, it should be no less than 10 billion baht because Tachilek, Myanmar, was also severely damaged.
This does not include economic rehabilitation, where small shops have to start their businesses all over again.
The damage is expected to be no less than 50 million baht, including shops in the Ta Lo market and shops that are still full of mud. The roads, which are still muddy, still need to be salvaged, especially in the villages along the Sai River, where mud was more than 2 meters high.
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