By Xinhua
Bangkok : Thailand’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said Monday that the disaster prevention agency would conduct an emergency drill for the bird flu virus.
Plans to conduct the emergency drill were proposed following the discovery of the H5N1 virus in Thailand in 2003. Supamitr Chunasuthiwat, a senior executive at the department under the public health ministry, has given the go-ahead for the first such drill.
“Since the time the virus first appeared in Thailand, it has continued to emerge up to this very day so it is vital that we raise public awareness about the virus,” Supamitr was quoted by the Bangkok Post’s webnews as saying.
“What we really need to be prepared for is how to deal with the crisis and how to handle new strains which could emerge,” said Supamitr.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department conducted similar emergency drills after the tsunami struck the southern coasts of Thailand in 2004.
In January, bird flu broke out in two provinces of northern Thailand and thousands of chickens were culled.
The most recent wave of bird flu outbreaks hit Thailand in 2004. Some 25 people were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus and 17 people died of the virus.