Crisis boosts community spirit, concrete blocks offer makeshift home

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• published: 30 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST 1. Tilt up from floodwater to children wading past makeshift housing in concrete blocks that are to be used to construct elevated train infrastructure 2. Mid of people climbing up wooden ladder to makeshift housing in concrete blocks 3. Pan from flooded street to people living inside a concrete block 4. Close of man inside concrete block 5. SOUNDBITE: (Thai) Prasit Jankam, taxi driver living in concrete blocks: "There was a lot of water and we couldn't use the toilet at home. So we came to have a look outside. A construction company happened to be storing these concrete parts here. My wife and I then thought we could stay here for a while. We thought we wouldn't be here longer than 15 days. But we've been here for a month already." 6. Tilt up from floodwater to concrete block 7. Mid of a woman watching TV inside concrete block 8. Wide of woman washing her clothes in floodwater at foot of ladder leading to block 9. Tilt up from water to girls wading through water, dragging a boat 10. Wide of line of concrete blocks 11. Mid of woman climbing out of boat and up ladder 12. Wide of a girl stepping from one concrete block to another 13. Various of woman sitting in concrete block with two dogs 14. Mid of woman paddling boat past concrete blocks 15. Wide of flooded area ouside a community spared from flooding in western Bangkok 16. Close of water coming out of water pumps set up to prevent flooding 17. Pan from water pumps to dry street and sandbags behind 18. Wide of villagers observing the water situation 19. Various of people wading across floodwater from the main street into the dry community 20. Pan from the makeshift water drain pipe to canal 21. SOUNDBITE: (Thai) Nattapong Chanthamrong, factory worker and resident in flood-free community: "How do we do it? We are all helping, everyone in this community is. And we have succeeded in protecting the neighbourhood, one hundred percent." 22. Various of shoes and wellington boots on steps of house that is free of floodwater in dry community STORYLINE As the worst flooding in decades continues in Thailand, Bangkok residents who have fled their houses have set up temporary home in a collection of concrete blocks which were to be used to build a rail bridge. Inside these concrete compartments over 30 families have taken shelter, and have been carrying on with their lives as normally as possible for over a month. It's a far cry from home comforts, but the concrete blocks provide solid shelter in a flooded city where some people have been forced to sleep on the roadside. 50-year-old taxi driver Prasit Jankam has adapted the upper level of his block into a bedroom as well as a living room. The concrete block residents can still watch television and have lights at night time thanks to electricity provided by the construction company. They also have clean water, toilets and bathrooms. But of course, there are downsides. Once the sun sets, mosquitoes brought by the stagnant water feast on the evacuees who have no windows or doors to protect them. And outside, the streets are flooded, and if they want to go anywhere they have to wade through water. Across the city, those who haven't yet been flooded are working hard to keep the waters at bay. In western Bangkok, where millions of cubic metres of flood runoff are trying to find a way out to sea, residents are waging a round the clock battle. The inhabitants of one neighbourhood in Bang Bon district, where floodwaters have already engulfed one of the main roads, have succeeded in keeping the rest of their streets and homes dry. Ten electric water pumps and over 100 sandbags have been installed to protect the community of 200 households. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/80859a32046b14ff926e69b81bf582c2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork