PM orders medical, relief teams to be on standby for dispatch to Nepal

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered the Public Health Ministry and the armed forces to prepare their medical and disaster relief teams to be on standby to be dispatched to Nepal to provide humanitarian assistance as soon as possible, government deputy spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Sunday.

Maj Gen Sansern said also the Kathmandu may have been closed the Thai medical and disaster relief teams would be flown to a nearest spot to be further dispatched to disaster-hit areas.

"The prime minister said that in this situation, what a friendly country should do is to provide full assistance for people in need of help," the spokesman said.

Maj Gen Sansern said the government would like to ask the Thai people to donate items important for survival and the donations would be delivered to the sufferring people of Nepal.

The donation can be made at the Interior Ministry's Damrongtham Centre in every province throughout the country.

"The government will next week organise a charity event to mobilise donations from the Thai people to be sent to Nepal. The event will be televised live on army-run Channel 5," Maj Gen Sansern said.

As for the Thai people living in Nepal, the prime minister has instructed the Thai embassy in Kathmandu to take care of them.

The embassy can make an arrangement to repatriate those who may want to return home as allowed by the Foreign Ministry's regulations, Maj Gen Sansern said.