His Majesty King Bhumibol and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, have expressed concern over the drought problems facing residents in the Kingdom and have requested the Deputy Secretary to work closely with the relevant agencies to try and alleviate the problems.

Chantaburi is the worst affected area with severe drought status and has already been declared an emergency area. The 6th Royal Rain Making Office have put an urgent order in for rain making chemicals and have dispatched three aircraft to evaluate weather conditions on an hourly basis.

Director of the Rain Making Office, Khun Tawee Kanjana, explained that this year the severity of the drought is double that of last year, hence the urgency to combat the problem to help farmers with their seasonal crops.

There has been no rain in the area since late 2009 and this year the winter has been exceptionally long, at this point those farmers who have managed to sow their crops are seeing them destroyed due to lack of water.

The Mayor of Chantaburi recently sent out a letter requesting the assistance of the Royal Rain Making Office as he had officially classed the province an emergency area. He has been informed by the Royal Rain Making Office that at the moment, and in the foreseeable future, there are not the required cloud types to force rain, however, they are using three aircraft to monitor the situation on an hourly basis.

In the meantime, the rain makers are using special spraying aircraft at 5,000 and 6,000 feet near the sea shore, with the intention of trying to create the ideal clouds to produce rain, it is hoped that the spraying will be between 50% and 60% successful, and that it will create rain for the Rayong, Chantaburi, Chonburi, Trat, Srakaew, Pracheenburi, Chacherngsao and Nakorn Nayok areas.

The Director of the Bureau of Royal Rain Making and Agricultural Aviation, Khun Warawut Khantiyanont, explained that this year there had been a significant reorganizing of the bureau which now has permanent rain making departments in 5 provinces, with 30 aircraft at their disposal, 21 owned and operated by the bureau and the other nine being supplied by the Thai Royal Air Force.