FEBRUARY 2008: BCTFN TO DONATE B250,000 TO
VICTIMS OF KLONG TOEY FIRE

Report from the BCTFN Committee member at the scene (18/2/08): I was at the Rong Mu fire site in the Klong Toey area all yesterday afternoon. The displaced people are being well taken care of at a local community playground nearby. They have adequate shelter and are off the ground sleeping on raised pallets with matting. They seem to have plenty of food, bottled water and clothing coming in from many small charity groups that are there right now (general feeling is that these groups will not be there for long) As they are on a playground site they have good washing and toilet facilities. The fire site is in a very poor area and the small houses are/were much more densely packed and they did well to contain the fire as quickly as they did. In saying that, 30 (ish) homes were completely destroyed and I confirmed that 200 are now displaced. Most of these people are documented families but a few are not. Eventually (anywhere from 7 months to 18 months will receive some compensation from the government). The plan is threefold. (...more)