Mercy Relief continues its efforts in the worst-affected province of Ayutthaya today, this time addressing the needs of the affected communities at the severely-inundated village of Pakkran, Pranakorn district. Several parts of the village have yet to receive aid due to their inaccessibility, with water levels reaching over 2 metres high in some areas. Pakkran is located more than 15km from the Ayutthaya Municipal Hall which is the designated distribution and collection centre for the Ayutthaya province. Mercy Relief deployed several of the inflatable boats that it had brought in from Singapore to help transport relief supplies to the affected areas which were inaccessible by land vehicles.  Last weekend, Mercy Relief distributed relief supplies to Ban Run village in the Amphur Mung district, which is located 6km away from the Municipal Hall. Food, drinking water, infant and adult diapers, formula milk and feeding bottles were personally distributed to more than 350 families to sustain them for the next 10 days to help stabilize the situation there until further help reaches them.

  

A 2-month old boy being changed by his 36-year-old mother, Madam Kod Chawan (holding diapers), with the newly received diapers distributed by Mercy Relief.  She escaped with her husband, Mr Diew Pong-Boon, from their rented flat in Bang Pa-In village with flood waters at neck level.  They only managed to grab a few pieces of clothes which they placed in a bucket together with their child.  They waded through 8km of water before reaching an evacuation centre.

 

Mercy Relief personnel distributing food and drinking water to stranded families in Pranakorn district.  Many areas in Ayutthaya province are not accessible by land vehicles which make relief operations extremely challenging.

Working alongside the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) and the local military, the MR team had access to first-hand and latest ground information which allowed them to reach the stranded victims quickly and effectively.

Mercy Relief Chief Executive Hassan Ahmad said, “Throughout our flood relief operations over the last weeks, Mercy Relief is privileged to have the goodwill, confidence and support of the Thai, Philippines and Cambodian authorities.  Indeed, this has allowed us to deliver the intended aid in a swift and timely manner.

Mercy Relief team works closely with the local authorities and military to reach out to as many stranded families.  The inflatable rescue boats that were brought in by the Singaporean humanitarian NGO was greatly welcomed by the local relief coordinators and people.

70,000 packs of ready-meals and 12 inflatable rescue boats flown in from Singapore were presented to Thai PM Yingluck at the National Floods Relief Centre, Bangkok. Another SGD10,000 worth of supplies including diapers, sanitary napkins, formula milk and feeding bottles were procured locally and personally distributed by the Mercy Relief team in Ayutthaya.

Having embarked on relief operations to the address the regional floods in Cambodia earlier this month, Mercy Relief’s first deployment to Thailand got into last Friday and immediately teamed up with Nissan Motors (Thailand).  The automobile giant provided the land transportation for both Mercy Relief’s personnel and supplies within Bangkok and to the neighbouring affected areas.  Nissan Motor’s staff also volunteered as translators, ground navigators and resource-points for the Singaporean team.

Leading global business software solutions company, SAP Asia,  provided its first tranche of SGD50,000 donation to support Mercy Relief’s operations in Thailand. It is also conducting a two-week internal fundraising amongst its staff and the company will match dollar-for-dollar on the final amount collected, such that the Singaporean humanitarian NGO will be able to sustain its operations there.  SAP Asia had donated to Mercy Relief a total sum of SGD265,000 to support Mercy Relief’s  previous relief efforts and the charity’s human resource expansion.

Local philanthropic organization, Chen Su Lan Trust, has yet again come in to provide strong backing with a SGD100,000 donation.  It previously donated SGD183,000 in support of other major relief efforts.

Traditional Chinese Medicines specialist, Eu Yan Sang, has placed MR donation cans at its main outlets throughout Singapore to help garner more funds.  Previous donations to MR amounted to more  SGD60,000.

About Mercy Relief

Mercy Relief is a Singaporean humanitarian organisation which engages in both disaster relief and sustainable development programmes. It was established in 2003 as an independent non-governmental humanitarian charity responding to the human tragedies in Asia. Mercy Relief’s aid programme focuses on providing timely and effective assistance to disaster-stricken communities and has maintained the delivery of emergency aid within 72 hours from the point of appeal for assistance.  

In the past 12 years, Mercy Relief has disbursed over S$32 million in aid across 40 disaster relief and 53 sustainable development initiatives. Mercy Relief has impacted an aggregate of 2 million lives in 24 countries and areas, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal,  Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen.

For more information, you may call us at 6514 6322 or email corporateaffairs@mercyrelief.org

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