Bangkok’s homeless population increased 4.2 percent from 2010 to 2011, mainly due to the 2011 Great Thailand Floods.
A charity called the Issarachon Foundation that works with homeless found that there were 2,561 homeless in Bangkok’s 50 districts, up from 2,451 in 2010, The Nation reported.
Those numbers seem a bit suspect though: In a city of over 8 million, we would think there would be quite a few more homeless people than 2,561.
But there’s no doubt that flooding put more people out on the streets.
Issarachon’s secretary general Nathee Sorawathee told a seminar in Sathon yesterday Feb. 29 that many people were laid off or became mentally ill from the stress from the flooding, adding to homelessness on Bangkok’s streets.
Nathee said that the number of mentally ill homeless people will rise in the face of any crisis whether natural or manmade. He urged the government to focus on social issues as well as economic development, and warned that more homeless people will appear on Bangkok’s streets when the Asean Economic Community is formed in 2015.
The Issarachon foundation found that Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district has the most street people, followed by Bang Sue, Chatuchak, Pathumwan, Samphanthawong, Klong Toei, Ratchathewi, Phaya Thai, Bang Rak, and Dusit.
