* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
While aid efforts and media attention focus on Bangkok and the ever increasing risks of flooding in the giant metropolis, children and their families already forced to abandon their homes in Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya are struggling to get by in makeshift evacuation centres or other areas they’ve managed to find shelter.
“Families are facing increasing stress as floodwaters continue to rise – some have been forced to move several times from shelter to shelter because of flood waters fanning out into new areas," said Save the Children’s Annie Bodmer-Roy, following a visit to Ayuttheya.
"One boy I spoke to had already moved twice in one week and now might have to move again as families are being evacuated from his current shelter."
Save the Children is working closely with government and local civil society partners to deliver immediate aid to those who need it most – but the aid agency says much more needs to be done.
“While much work has already been done by the authorities to meet the needs of thousands of children and families affected by the floods, this crisis is stretching everyone’s capacity to the limit and without help we’re concerned that thousands of children won’t get the aid they urgently need,” Bodmer-Roy added.
The children's charity aims to raise an initial $1.5 million to help children affected by the floods so that the families hardest to reach get equal access to aid like food and water.
The funds raised will also be used to help keep children safe from abuse as well as support their psycho-social recovery from the stress and anxiety experienced in this disaster.
Save the Children partners help to push a truck with life-saving food and water to families left stranded in Ayutthaya. The main road connecting Bangkok with Ayutthaya has become increasingly flooded over the past weeks, pushing agencies like Save the Children to deliver aid by boat in the hardest to reach areas.
Cars surrounded by floodwater on the road towards Ayutthaya evacuation centre, Ayutthaya province, Thailand.
Oil, 8, sits on a thin sleeping mat laid out on the ground at an evacuation centre in Ayutthaya, where she has sought shelter with her grandmother and aunt. The family sleeps on the floor in a semi-constructed building exposed to the elements, Thailand.
Volunteers help out with sandbagging streets, Rangsit, north of Bangkok, Thailand.
A man carries a baby in his arms as he readies to leave his makeshift shelter in Pathum Thani, Thailand. The country is currently seeing some of the worst flooding in decades as thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes amidst rising waters north of Bangkok.
A young family wades through floodwaters outside the evacuation centre at Thammasat University campus, north of Bangkok, Thailand.
Two young people kneel alongside their boat, sitting with their provisions in the water that has flooded the highway on the road from Bangkok to Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, Thailand.
