Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xkcu2kb9df8bv5t/VRP20301.mp4?dl=0
Footage shows homeless people sleeping around the main train station in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday aftrernoon (April 7).
The building attracts hundreds of struggling locals who nap in the busy building throughout the day and night. Numbers of homeless people have increased due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s economy.
Rail chiefs have closed the building to the homeless people from 11:30pm to 3am due to the high numbers that were sleeping there.
Natee Sarawaree, an activist with a foundation that provides aid to the homeless population, said: ‘Homeless people have two main concerns about space, which are places to sleep and go to the toilet. At Hua Lamphong, they could sleep in the terminal and use the station’s bathroom. It was a place that allowed them to be visible to society as well as solved some of the homeless issues.’
Thailand’s tourism-reliant economy has been hit had by the pandemic with banks warning it could take years before it recovers.
The country’s Krungsri Bank forecasts that it will be up to three years before tourism returns to its pre-pandemic levels. The country has recorded a relatively low 24,961 Covid-19 infections and 82 deaths as of February 18 but the impact on the tourism-dependent economy has been devastating.