Wire Meshes

What comes after the flood-wire mesh products

What comes after the flood,Flood death toll rises to 666-hesco bastion

Published: 2/12/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered her cabinet ministers to evaluate their performance over the past three months and get ready to report to the public. This is a normal process, as any elected government needs to regularly publicise its progress in work, if any, and be made accountable to the electorate. The government is not required by law to do so, although different countries have different traditions and most have their own annual rituals such as the State of the Union address in the United States, which also has a forward-looking aspect.

A snapshot of our times: A boy holds aloft banknotes to keep them dry while he swims during the flood in Nonthaburi province on Oct 15, 2011. The government will need to spend prodigious sums to revitalise numerous parts of the country which have been damaged by the flood.

For Thailand, the government is required to report to Parliament annually not only what the government has declared as policy at the beginning of its administration, but also its compliance with the basic national policies as stipulated in the Constitution.

But this time around, the three-month report is more of a political message and a ploy to make cabinet ministers tighten the nuts and bolts needed to drive the policies the government has committed itself to. It is coupled by rumours of a cabinet reshuffle due to many existing loopholes both in routine administrative work and as a result of the still ongoing flood crisis that has exposed weaknesses among many of the ministers in charge. The Thai press has widely criticised how a number of ministers had disappeared from the “radar screen” _ not seen either at the Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc) nor appearing to be working in their respective jobs.

Overall, however, the Yingluck administration has been unfortunate in that it has had to face and deal with a natural disaster unprecedented in Thai history.

When she took office in August and completed the long transition process to take firm hold of the steering wheel as premier _ with the official announcement and parliamentary debate on her policies on Aug 27 _ she may have thought she was on her way to implementing the series of populist policies, for instance, the incentives for first homes and first cars, the energy credit card project, etc. The economy was robust and political stability seemed to be returning to the Land of Smiles.

But then the flood hit hard, and priorities changed. So did the conditions and assumptions for policy implementation, both in dealing with the flood and in long-term solutions to deal with future deluge; and how to continue on track with the policies that had been set beforehand.

First on the agenda has been the immediate relief work for flood victims. Froc’s relief operations have improved with time, but the area and number of people affected are beyond the scope of any single agency or coordinating body to handle. Even as the waters receded in many areas, many other communities are still stagnating in metre-high waters _ for more than a month now. Tensions have risen and tempers have flared. At least one or two months more of intense drainage operations will be necessary before most if not all flooded areas become dry and life adjusts back to normality.

Expenses for physical renovation and compensation for victims will continue to skyrocket. This is especially true for the suburbs in Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani provinces and the outlying districts east and west of the capital, due to the density of population and the value of homes and cars of the new middle-class living in those areas. The 120 billion baht set aside in the expenditure budget may not be entirely enough.

The larger bills will come later next year, with the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure, schools, hospitals, government buildings and religious and historical sites. These constitute the initial re-building; the larger items will come after the two national committees set up by the prime minister finish their deliberations and propose new solutions such as floodways and urban planning.

The long-term programmes are particularly important since they will assure the investors,防洪墙-钢格板, Thai and foreign,wire mesh products, that if disaster should strike again,perforated wire mesh, the government will be ready to deal with it more effectively and efficiently. Our nation’s credibility depends on these programmes and their quick implementation.

The government will also have to decide on a financing scheme that will not put too much pressure on the country’s national debt (and thereby avoid falling prey to political attacks from the opposition).

The faster the government acts, the quicker investments will return; and with factories rebuilding and reopening, unemployment which has shot up after during the crisis will eventually drop. Thailand will be able to maintain its export markets for goods produced in those flooded industrial estates.

But if politics and bureaucratic red tape slow down the process, growth will not recover sufficiently, thereby adding to the economic agony and the deterioration of the quality of life caused by the flood. Some academics and critics have suggested the government may have to drop its original agenda, meaning the populist items.

This is not necessarily so. Many of the projects act as a stimulus, and as the economy weakens it is important that the domestic economy is properly managed so as to remain vibrant.

On the opposite side, it may even be essential for the government to devise more programmes designed to stimulate the economy, but within the boundaries of fiscal and monetary discipline. Thus, any policy measures must be sustainable in nature, with long-term implications rather than mere handouts, in cash or kind.

However, this is a good opportunity for the government to review all programmes and projects that seek a share of the national budget. Many are projects of the past that do not add any more value. Some are mere fronts for graft and abuse. The government must be firm in cutting excess and limiting corruption.

Since Ms Yingluck has a business background, it is important for her to utilise modern management principles in managing financial and other resources. Any so-called populist programmes must have rates of return or other measurable social benefits, and not merely satisfy political canvassers and their constituents, as has been the case during previous governments. If she can assure the public of this, the nation’s credibility will not be undermined at a time when it is most needed.

Military Barriers/Hesco Bastions

Information

The QIAOSHI’s Military Barriers or Hesco Bastions is a modern gabion used for flood control and military fortification. It is made of a collapsible wire meshes container and heavy duty fabric liner, and used as a temporary to semi-permanent dike or barrier against blast or small-arms. One of the less heralded life- and labor-saving devices of war,不锈钢冷拉丝, it is used on nearly every United States Military base in Iraq as well as on NATO bases in Afghanistan.

Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control, the Hesco Bastion quickly became a popular security device in the 1990s.

Assembly
Assembling the Hesco Bastion entails unfolding it and (if available) using a front end loader to fill it with sand,Flood of sanctions fails to halt Syrian bloodshed-HESCO, dirt or gravel. The placement of the barrier is generally very similar to the placement of a sandbag barrier or earth berm except that room must generally be allowed for the equipment used to fill the barrier. The main advantage of Military Barrier, strongly contributing to their popularity with troops and flood fighters, is the quick and easy setup. Previously, people had to fill sandbags, a slow undertaking, with one worker filling about 20 sandbags per hour. Workers using Military Barrier and a front end loader can do ten times the work of those using sandbags.
The Hesco Barrier come in a variety of sizes. Most of the barriers can also be stacked, and they are shipped collapsed in compact sets. Example dimensions of typical configurations are 46″ x 36″ x 32 (1.4m x 1.1m x 9.8m) to 7 x 5 x 100 (2.1m x 1.5m x 30m).
A new system of Hesco Bastion developed specially for military use is deployed from a container, which is dragged along the line of ground where the barrier is to be formed, unfolding up to several hundred meters of barrier in minutes, ready for filling with soil by a backhoe.

Protection
Filled with sand, 60 centimetres (24 inches) of barrier thickness will stop rifle bullets and shell fragments. It takes 1.5 metres (five feet) of thickness to prevent penetration by a rocket propelled grenade round. Approximately 1.2 metres (four feet) of thickness provides protection against most car bombs.

Specification

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