Nearly B600m raised for flood victims

Actor Bin Bunluerit, second from left, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, third from left, after the government's public appeal for donations for flood victims at TV Channel 9 in Bangkok on Tuesday night. (Screenshot from Thai News Agency)
Actor Bin Bunluerit, second from left, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, third from left, after the government's public appeal for donations for flood victims at TV Channel 9 in Bangkok on Tuesday night. (Screenshot from Thai News Agency)

Two appeals launched to raise funds for flood victims in Ubon Ratchathani - one private, one government - have raised 595 million baht in total.

The government raised 263 million baht from its TV channel 9 charity call on Tuesday night, while actor Bin Bunluerit's appeal has received 332 million baht since Saturday.

The government fund-raiser came after Bin's charity initiative to help flood victims in the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani. The actor started the appeal on Saturday with 1 million baht from his own wallet, and called on others to join him.

Bin said while helping victims in Ubon Ratchathani that local people hit by the flood were largely daily wage earners and in need of money, so he was raising cash for them.

He also said that the government was giving 1,000 baht each to domestic tourists and so should also give cash to flood victims, who were starving. His supporters were looking to raise from 1,000 to 5,000 baht each for flood victims.

On Monday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he felt uncomfortable with people's requests for 5,000-baht handouts because the government had procedures to meet before giving money to flood victims.

Gen Prayut later announced he would make a 100,000 baht donation from his own money.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • appeal: to make an urgent request for people to do something or behave in a particular way - ร้องขอ
  • charity: involving giving money or help to people who are poor or ill, or who need advice and support - การกุศล
  • domestic: inside the country being talked about - ภายในประเทศ
  • fund-raiser: a social event or an entertainment held in order to collect money for a person, charity or an organisation - การระดมทุน
  • handout: an amount of money or goods giving to people who need them - การให้ทาน
  • initiative: a new action or movement, often intended to solve a problem - ความคิดริเริ่ม
  • procedures (noun): ways of doing something - ขั้นตอนการดำเนินการ
  • starving (adj): not having enough food to eat - ที่อดอยาก
  • uncomfortable: anxious, embarrassed or afraid and unable to relax; making you feel like this - ไม่สบายใจ, อึดอัด, อึดอัดใจ
  • victims : people who are killed injured or harmed in some way from an accident, natural disaster, crime, etc. - เหยื่อผู้เคราะห์ร้าย
  • wage: an amount of money that you earn for working, usually according to how many hours or days you work each week or month - ค่าจ้าง

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT
MORE IN SECTION