Thais enduring the nation’s worst floods in decades have faced marauding crocodiles

Thais enduring the nation’s worst floods in decades have faced marauding crocodiles and threat of snake bites and electrocution, but health experts say the top risks are drowning and disease.

Three months into a crisis that has ravaged the kingdom and is now encroaching on the capital Bangkok, conditions are ripe for a humanitarian disaster and aid agencies are racing to heighten awareness.

“You don’t want to create mass panic,” said Matthew Cochrane of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “You need to find a balance between being alert and alarmed.”

Inundated communities have been warned to watch out for poisonous snakes swimming in the murky floodwaters, as well as electrocution from submerged power points and dangling electricity cables.

Images of crocodiles being captured on Bangkok’s outskirts, after escaping from flooded farms where they are bred commercially, have further rattled nerves.

Unusually heavy monsoon rains have swamped much of Thailand, killing more than 370 people and forcing vast numbers to seek refuge in shelters. The waters are now closing in on Bangkok’s city centre where they could remain for weeks.

Experts say the priority is to maintain hygiene levels and aid agencies are trying to provide clean water and bathroom facilities – including floating and collapsible latrines – to tens of thousands of affected families.

In a country where many cannot swim, the number one cause of death during the disaster has not been disease, but drowning, said Maureen Birmingham, the World Health Organisation’s representative in Thailand.

Please give these people some relief soon!

Source AP