Drowning in red tape

Once a thriving southern trading post, Hat Yai has been swamped not only by muddy water but by the kind of hard, bitter lessons disasters bring.

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The failures have been endless, from inefficient warning systems and uncoordinated responses and rescue efforts, to the current chaos of claiming flood compensation.

Time and again, bureaucracy has failed to save the public. Instead, it has proven itself absurdly cruel, hindering aid and actively piling suffering onto the disaster victims.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who also serves as interior minister, made a public pledge to expedite compensation through a fast-track process, with the fewest possible procedures and minimal document requirements, to truly lessen the burdens faced by flood victims.

Yet, the promise quickly drowned in bureaucracy. On the ground, complaints promptly arose.